:ihtf 


imiVERSlI       3    ^^22   01089   5605 
LA  iOlLA.  CALIFORNIA 


V 


x^ 


\ 


?\  }1      I J  1    ,.-.•,  I 


/ 


THE 


NINETEE^'TII   CENTURY; 


OR  ras 


NEW  DISPENSATION: 


A  BRIEF  KXAMINATION  OF  THE  CLAIMS  AND  ASSERTIONS 


EMANUEL  SWEDEXBOEO. 


RY  A  LAYM.U'. 


NEW   YORK: 

JOHN  ALLEN.  139  NASSAU-STREET. 

BOSTON.    OTIS    CLAPP.   12   SCHOOL-STREET. 

LONDON:    JAMES   S.  H0D80N. 

1832. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1P51, 

By  JOHN  ALLEN, 

In  the  aerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


C.    A.    ALVORD,    rniNTFR, 
29  Gold-st.,  N.  V. 


>^^o    xp  (xXi^- 


PREFACE. 


It  is  obvious  to  the  intclli^'ont  mind,  that  for  many  centuries 
the  world  has  progressed  in  civiliaUion.  At  the  era  when  our 
Saviour  made  his  appearance,  the  nations  of  the  earth  were  im- 
mersed in  darkness,  and,  to  a  great  degree,  in  a  semi-barbarous 
state.  At  this  time  the  Christian  religion  Wiis  taught,  and  an 
opening  made,  and  the  foundation  laid  for  future  improvement. 
After  a  severe  struggle,  the  great  truths  of  Chi-istianity  in  the 
fifth  century  were  received  and  admitted  as  the  established  re- 
ligion of  the  Roman  Empire.  At  tii-st  its  truths  were  received 
and  taught  with  purity  and  simplicity,  but  by  degrees  the  system 
was  misinterpreted  and  perverted,  until,  in  the  hands  of  the 
Church,  the  Holy  Oracles  became  a  scourge  and  instrument  of 
depriving  man  of  his  hbertics. 

Passing  the  period  of  the  separation  of  the  Church  and  Roman 
Empire,  and  that  of  the  dark  ages,  we  will  hasten  to  the  era  of 
the  tenth  centuiy  and  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest.  At 
this  period  the  feudal  system  was  the  law  of  the  land,  might  made 
right,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were  held  as  tributaries 
by  the  robber  chivalry,  who,  issuing  from  their  strongholds,  and 
clad  in  armor,  crushed  the  least  attempt  of  the  peaceful  inhabit- 
ants of  the  city  or  laborer  of  the  plain  to  rise  from  slavery.     It 


IV  PREFACE. 

may  well  be  believed  that  at  this  time  religio\is  liberty  was  at  a 
low  ebb,  and  the  head  of  the  Catholic  Chm-ch  held  Christendom 
in  the  chains  of  a  spiritual  bondage.  The  first  and  most  import- 
ant discoveiy  brought  to  light  by  the  Divine  Providence  was  that 
of  gunpowder.  By  the  means  of  this  most  powerful  agent  the 
supremacy  of  the  robber  chiv.-.hy  was  destroyed,  and  the  people 
were  enabled  to  contend  with  the  mailed  knight  upon  terms  of 
equality.  Thus  the  light  of  liberty  increased,  and  the  masses  be- 
gan to  be  aware  that  their  rights  could  not  be  trampled  on  with 
impunity. 

The  next  great  discovery,  made  in  the  fourteenth  century,  was 
the  art  of  printing.  By  this,  civil  and  religious  information  was 
diffused ;  and,  in  a  century  afterwards,  a  few  enlightened  minds, 
disgusted  with  the  irreligion  and  atrocities  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
seceded,  and  the  Reformation  took  place.  At  this  era,  learning 
and  the  arts  and  sciences  might  be  said,  in  comparison  with  the 
present  age,  to  have  been  in  their  infancy.  The  great  body  of 
the  seceders  or  Protestants  having  httle  or  no  education,  were 
wilhng,  in  their  desire  to  escape  from  Catholic  bondage,  to  adopt 
a  system  and  manner  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures  taught  by 
Calvin,  Luther,  and  a  few  othei-s,  and  which  was  suitable  for  that 
age. 

From  the  time  of  the  Reformation  down  to  the  present  day,  a 
period  of  more  than  three  centuries  has  elapsed,  and  with  an  un- 
paralleled rapidity  unkno-RTi  in  former  ages,  the  greatest  discov- 
eries and  improvements  have  been  made  in  every  branch  of  the 
natm-al  sciences;  and  agencies  are  now  in  operation  that  were 
imknown  to  the  ancients,  and  which  cannot  be  found  recorded  in 
history.  In  the  departments  of  geology  and  astronomy,  astonish- 
ing advances  have  been  made.  It  is  equally  so  in  labor-saving 
and  productive  machineiy,  by  the  means  of  which  the  ingenuity 


PREFACE. 


of  man  has  almost  accompHshed  miracles.  By  the  powerful  ener- 
gies of  the  press  information  is  difiused  on  every  side,  and  the 
world,  as  ti-uly  said,  has  become  a  vast  whispering  gallery,  and 
the  echoing  notes  of  the  himian  intellect  now  vibrate  through  its 
eternal  dome. 

By  the  discovery  of  the  application  of  steam,  the  two  hemis- 
pheres are  separated  from  each  other  but  by  a  few  days'  sail. 
Even,  as  has  been  remarked,  the  elements  have  been  laid  under 
contribution,  and  man  now,  by  the  subtle  agency  of  the  electric 
teleo-raph,  is  seemingly  endowed  with  more  than  human  power ; 
and  can  converse  with  his  neighbor,  who  lives  a  thousand  miles 
distant,  with  as  much  ease  as  if  but  a  few  rods  apart.  If  we  ex- 
amine the  political  horizon  of  the  Old  Worid,  we  perceive  that 
equally  astonishing  results  have  been  recently  produced,  and  it  is 
plainly  evident  that  the  feudal  system  has  received  its  death  blow, 
and  that  an  inten-egnum  is  about  to  succeed  previous  to  the  per- 
manent and  eternal  sway  of  republicanism. 

With  all  these  important  and  momentous  changes,  which 
evince  the  fact  that  the  times  are  pregnant  with  that  which  will 
change  the  old  order  of  things,  and  produce  a  new  era  in  the 
world's  history,  no  reformation  hcvs  taken  place  in  religion,  and 
the  Bible  is  taught  in  the  same  manner  as  it  was  three  hundred 

years  ago. 

Now  it  will  be  admitted  that  for  the  exigencies  of  the  present 
time,  an  era  pecuUarly  an  age  of  reason  and  individual  investiga- 
tion, that  either  the  Holy  Oracles  must  by  some  means  be  caused 
to  open  then-  revelations  with  new  light  and  beauty,  in  a  way 
satisfactory  to  our  rational  powers,  or  there  is  evident  danger  that 
in  the  struggle  between  reason  and  faith,  their  authenticity  will, 
by  many,  be  doubted.  We  believe  that  the  powers  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  collectively  considered,  have  increased  in  like  ratio 


Vi  PKEFACE. 

with  the  vast  discoveries  made  in  the  natural  sciences,  and  that 
the  time  has  anived  when  an  intelligent  community  will  not  be 
satisfied  without  knowing  mcfi-e  or  less  concerning  the  Scriptures. 
The  present  generation  do  not  view  religious  subjects  in  the  light 
of  centuries  gone  by,  or  rest  on  the  Church  as  their  respected 
religious  conductor,  under  whose  guidance  they  are  to  reach  the 
realms  of  happiness.  In  the  plac^  of  a  blind  faith,  there  is 
springing  up  on  every  side  a  spirit  of  inquiiy  and  investigation, 
an  eager  desire  to  know  the  truth  and  the  foundation  of  all 
things.  It  is  believed  that  owing  to  the  numerous  conflicting 
sects,  the  mysteries  of  the  Scriptures,  the  difficulty  of  knowing 
what  to  believe,  that  opinions,  varying  little  from  deism,  and  to- 
tally destitute  of  spirit  and  vitahty  or  power  to  edify,  have  spread 
more  or  less  through  all  classes,  and  that  secret  infidelity  prevails 
to  a  great  extent.  Hence  the  pulpit  is  comparatively  powerless, 
and  Sabbath  after  Sabbath  presents  the  sad  spectacle  of  congre- 
gations to  whom,  in  a  great  degree,  the  words  of  the  preacher 
are  lifeless  and  without  avail. 

Beheving  that  by  the  agency  of  the  Divine  Providence  the 
Scriptures  have  been  caused  to  open  their  revelations  with  new 
light  and  beauty,  and  that  the  Christian  world  lias  now  a  fixed 
and  permanent  method  of  interpreting  the  mystical  and  hidden 
sense  of  the  Word,  and  which  answers  the  demands  of  the  present 
enlightened  age,  and  concerning  which  the  majority  are  in  total 
ignorance,  we  have  been  induced  to  give  publicity  to  the  follow- 
-ing  brief  and  imperfect  sketches,  and  which,  without  farther  ob- 
sei-vation,  are  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  those  who  may 
deem  them  worthy  of  their  perusal. 

New  York,  Oct.  1,  1851. 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION  I. 

Introdictory 

Concerning  prejudice. — Of  the  necessity  of  exercising  our  rational  powers 
in  respect  to  the  Scriptures. — Tlint  the  Universe  is  governed  by  fl.xcd  and 
unchangeable  laws.    Page  1  to  11. 

SECTION  II. 
Necessity  of  ax  Internal  Sense  to  the  Scriptures — 

That  witlioiit  such  n  sense  many  partjj  of  tlie  Holy  Oracles  are  irrational. — 
Views  and  opinions  of  cnunent  authorities  in  respect  to  the  subject. — 
Difficulty  of  understanding  in  the  sense  of  the  letter,  the  narration 
concerning  Creation  and  the  Expulsion  of  Adain  and  Eve  from  the 
Garden  of  Eden. — The  testimony  of  the  sacred  writers  adduced  to  prove 
that  there  is  an  internul  or  spiritual  sense,     i'age  12  to  22. 

SECTION  III. 
Necessity  of  discovering  a  Key  to  the  Scriptures — 

The  New  Testament  examined. — Seemingly  taught  in  Mattliew  and  In 
other  parts  of  the  Sacred  Writings,  that  many  are  blinded  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  they  cannot  understand  those  truths  which  it  is  asserted  were 
written  for  their  instruction. — The  apparent  injustice  of  such  a  method 
of  proceeding. — The  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost. — Difficulty  of  under- 
standing what  it  is. — A  cause  of  insanity  to  many. — Difficulty  of  com* 
prehcnding  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  the  Atonement. — Different 
views  held  in  respect  to  the  subject  by  various  eminent  divines. — Confir- 
mation of  these  views  by  the  literal  sense  of  the  Scriptures. — The  seem- 
ing impossibility  for  the  inquirer  after  truth  to  comprehend  these  im- 
portant doctrines. — The  necessity  of  a  Key  to  the  Scriptures  indicated  in 
the  Book  of  Revelation. — The  necessity  of  an  explanation  of  many 
passages  in  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel,  which  are  apparently  as  irrational  as  many 
parts  of  the  Koran. — Our  views  in  respect  to  the  difficulties  of  under- 
Btanding  and  interpreting  the  Scriptures  confirmed  by  eminent  authori- 


viii  CONTENTS. 

ties.— Dr.  Tholuck's  assertion  that  there  is  not  to  be  found,  in  the  whole 
range  of  classic  literature,  a  volume  concerning  which  there  is  such  a  dis- 
crepancy of  opinion  as  is  exhibited  in  respect  to  the  Sacred  Writings. — 
Page  23  to  34. 

SECTION  IV. 
Consequences  resulting   to    the  Christian  Religion  from 

THE     WANT     of     A     KeY,    AND    OF     A     FIXED     AND     PERMANENT 

Method  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures — 

That  the  discrepancy  of  opinion  in  respect  to  the  Holy  Oracles  has  for 
many  centuries  been  a  cause  of  endless  disputes  and  contentions. — That 
for  this  reason  thousands  have  lost  their  lives  amid  excruciating  suffer- 
ings, and  the  reign  of  bigotry  and  superstition  has  been  perpetuated. — 
That  from  this  cause  the  Church  is  without  unity,  and  divided  into  nu- 
merous sects,  each  of  which  claims  the  pre-eminence. — That  the  great  dis- 
crepancy in  respect  to  interpreting  the  Scriptures  has  a  most  ruinous 
tendency,  causing  many  both  among  the  learned  and  unlearned  to  doubt 
the  inspiration  of  the  Bible. — That  from  this  and  other  reasons  it  is 
evinced  that  the  Christian  Church  has  become  of  an  external  nature,  and 
presents  the  distinguishing  features  which  characterized  the  Jewish 
Church  at  its  fall. — Our  views  in  respect  to  the  external  nature  of  the 
present  Church  confirmed  by  eminent  authorities. — Views,  «tc.,  exhibited 
in  the  Christian  Union  and  Religious  Memorial. — Opinions  of  Carlyle, 
Dr.  Chalmers,  Olin,  and  others. — General  review  of  the  preceding  sec- 
tions.— Inference  drawn  that  the  time  has  arrived  When  there  is  a  ne- 
cessity that  a  new  dispensation  or  revelation  should  be  given. — Farther 
observations  in  respect  to  the  subject. — Present  era  compared  to  the  two 
great  periods  in  the  earth's  history  (the  call  of  Abraham  and  the  coming 
of  Jesus  of  Xazareth),  when  the  interests  of  mankind  appeared  about  to 
be  destroyed  by  floods  of  unbelief. — Remarks  concerning  the  spread  of 
infidel  works  at  the  period  previous  to  the  French  Revolution. — The  same 
description  of  writings  now  extensively  circulated. — Observations  con- 
cerning the  "Vestiges  of  Creation." — General  opinion  that  the  era  in 
which  we  live  is  such  as  rarely  occurs,  and  of  momentous  import. — 
Page  35  to  53. 

SECTION  V. 

Inference  in  respect  to  the  Necessity  of  a  New  Revela- 
tion farther  examined — 

Inference  drawn  that  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Supreme  Ruler, 
instead  of  manifesting  himself  as  in  former  periods,  would  give  an  ex- 
planation of  the  Scriptures  which  should  be  considered  as  an  authority. — 
Absurd  pretension  of  many  in  respect  to  the  subject. — Emanuel  Sweden- 
borg. — His  claims  and  assertions.— Opinions  of  eminent  writers  in  respect 
to  his  character  and  scientific  attainments. — Inference  drawn  that  his  asser- 
tions are  ditlerent  from  those  who  have  made  similar  ehiinis.— The  inquiry 
made,  what  miracles  did  he  work  to  prove  that  he  is  a  divine  messenger  ? — 
Tlie  subject  examined :   shown  that  miracles  would  be  useless  at  the 


CONTENTS.  '^ 

present  day,  and  if  actaally  wrought  would  be  disbelieved. — Farther  cx- 
amimition  of  Swcdeuborg's  character.— His  appeal  to  reason  and  Scrip- 
ture.— llis  claims  tested  by  the  ordeal  given  in  tiie  Scriptures.— His  belief 
in  the  Divinity  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity. — His  defending  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Sacred  Writings,  and  teaching  there  is  a  t^tate  of  reward 
and  punishment  hereafter.— Spread  of  the  doctrines  in  Europe  and  the 
United  States.    I'ogo  54  to  73. 

SECTION  VI. 
The  Creation.     The  Age   of  Happiness  and  the  Fall  ok 

THE    RACE 

The  Creation.— Man  created  a  happy  being.— The  golden  age— The  grad- 
ual declension  and  fall  of  the  race. — Its  cause. — Impossibility  of  destroy- 
ing man's  freedom. — Proof  that  man  i«  free. — If  such  were  not  the  case, 
the  unhappiness  of  mankind  could  be  justly  ascribed  to  the  Creator. — 
Important  nature  of  the  belief — View  of  Milton.    Page  74  to  79. 

SECTION  VII. 
The  Fall  of  the  Race  continued — 

Man  gradually  declines  into  a  state  of  gross  materialism  and  barbarism. — 
Sacrifice  to  idols.— Man-worship.— The  Deluge.- The  call  of  Abraham. — 
Difficulty  of  acting  upon  sensuous  minds. — Sodom  and  Gomorrah. — 
Reason  given  why  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  are  written  in  a  figurative 
manner  and  as  a  designed  allegory. — Apparent  and  real  trutl). — Impossi- 
bility of  the  Israelites  and  others  understanding  any  other  account  of  the 
Creation  and  the  Fall. — Concerning  the  origin  of  the  serpent  or  dragon. — 
What  it  designates. — What  is  represented  by  the  Garden  of  Eden. — 
Concerning  the  idolatry  of  the  Israelites,  and  of  their  sacrificing  living 
victims. — Their  character  impartially  e.\amined  and  estimated.  Pago 
80  to  93. 

SECTION  VIII. 
The  SpiRiTfAL  World — 

The  Creator  the  sole  source  of  life. — Concerning  the  nature  of  the  soul. — 
Of  its  immortality. — That  man  exists  in  another  life  in  the  human  form.— 
In  what  consists  heavenly  happiness. — That  man  in  another  existence  is 
governed  by  laws. — Concerning  evil  and  guardian  spirits. — Of  their  con- 
nection and  intercourse  with  mankind. — The  belief  repeatedly  tauglit  in 
the  Scriptures. — Views  and  opinions  of  eminent  authorities  in  respect  to  . 
the  subject.    Page  94  to  117. 

SECTION  IX. 

Regeneration  and  Free  Agency — 

The  subject  stated. — The  case  of  an  infidel  taken. — Shown  that  the  equi- 
librium of  man's  freedom  is  never  destroyed. — Regeneration  gradual  and 
progressive,  and  not  of  a  miraculous  nature. — False  ideas  in  respect  to  the 
subject. — Importance  of  connecting  faith  and  works.     Page  121  to  135, 


X  CONTENTS. 

SECTION  X. 

The  Atonemext,  or  Reconciliation — 

The  doctrine  stated.— Of  the  origin  of  hell.— Of  its  connection  with  this 
world. — That  at  one  period  in  the  earth's  historj-  there  was  imminent 
danger  of  its  being  overwhelmed  by  an  influx  of  evil  from  the  hidden 
world.— Concerning  the  appearance  of  tlie  Author  of  Christianity  and 
of  his  subjugation  of  the  powers  of  evil. — Proof  from  the  Scripture*. 
Page  136  to  164. 

SECTION  XI. 

The  Trinity — 

The  popular  belief  shown  to  be  erroneous,  and  one  which  virtually 
teaches  there  are  three  distinct  and  separate  Gods. — The  true  doctrine 
stated,  and  the  truth  maintained,  that  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  there  is 
a  trinity  of  principles  and  not  of  persons.    Page  165  to  175. 

SECTION  XII. 

The  Second  Advent — 

Part  I. — The  popular  belief  examined  and  shown  to  be  irrational. — Con- 
cerning the  views  held  by  the  Jews  and  primitive  Christians  in  respect 
to  the  advent  of  Christ. — Consequences  resulting  from  false  views  in 
respect  to  the  subject.     Page  176. 

Part  II. — The  true  doctrine  stated. — The  argument  from  reason.  Page  191. 

Part  III. — The  Scriptural  argument.    Page  219. 

SECTION  XIII. 

The  Resurrection — 

Belief  in  the  resurrection  of  the  natural  body  shown  to  be  a  fallacy. — 
True  doctrine  stated. — Proof  from  the  Scriptures  that  man  immediately 
at  the  death  of  the  body  enters  into  another  existence. — That  then  is 
his  judgment  day.    Page  238  to  254. 

SECTION  XIV. 

The  Divine  Providence — 

Explanation  given  concerning  the  manner  in  which  the  Holy  Oracles  arc 
written. — Necessity  that  truth  should  but  occasionally  appear. — Danger 
of  profanation. — Concerning  unavoidable  evils.    Page  255  to  291. 

SECTION  XV. 
Conclusion — 

General  review  of  the  preceding  sections. — Necessity  of  a  Key  to  the 
Scriptures. — Irrationality  of  supposing  that  without  a  divine  interposition 
its  mysteries  can  be  revealed.— Progress  of  the  Church.     Page  292  to  805. 


CONTENTS.  » 


APPENDIX  A. 

Davis'  Revelations.    Page  806. 

APPENDIX  B. 

The  color  and  civilization  of  tho  most  ancient  people. — Swedenborg's  repre- 
sentations in  regard  to  tlio  subject.     Pago  819. 

APPENDIX  C. 

The  origin  of  idolatroos  worship.     Pago  834. 

APPENDIX  D. 
The  Delnge.    Pago  840. 

APPENDIX  E. 

Sensationalism  or  Materialism  of  the  age.     Pago  852. 

APPENDIX  F. 
Swedenborg's  Memorable  Relations.     Page  865. 

APPENDIX  G. 

lUostrations  of  tho  End  of  tho  Church.    Pago  878. 

APPENDIX  H. 

Life  ond  Biography  of  Swedcnborg,  taken  from  the  London  Penny  Cydo- 
pcuJia.     Page  3b6. 

APPENDIX  I. 

Summary  of  the  Doctrines  of  the  True  Christian  Chorch,  extracted  from 
Swedenborg's  Universal  Theology.    Pago  411. 


SECTION    I. 


INTHODLCTORY. 


It  is  II  maxim  of  irur  pliiloMtphy  to  prove  all  thiiiLT'^,  and  to 
hold  fast  t»»  that  which  is  tj.«>d.  Hut  how  diflicuh,  nay,  how 
impossible,  to  t-xhihit  u  new  theory,  when  ihosi'  to  whom  it  is  ad- 
dressed have  concliLMvely  determined  the  matter,  and  declare  that 
in  their  view  tin'  new  dm-lrine  Ix-ars  on  its  face  lui  absurdity  and 
I'  ly.      Thas  prejudiced,  they  condemn  and  reject  that 

Nv  \  have  never  examined,  or  exaniin«'d  but  in  the  slightest 

manner.  Hut  has  it  not  ever  been  thus  in  retrard  to  the  reception 
of  the  grciitest  discoveries  which  udom  the  annals  of  philosophy  ? 
It  is  certainly  true  that  at  tirst  they  ever  have  been  received  with 
contempt,  luid  denied  lus  impossibilities. 

Pvthagoras,  for  his  novel  opinions,  wjis  driven  from  Athens; 
and  Socrates,  for  having  demonstrated  the  unity  of  (Jod,  was 
forced  to  drink  the  juice  of  the  hemlock.  As  we  come  down  to 
a  later  jx-riod,  the  name  of  Galileo  stands  prominent.  The  facts 
concemini^  the  ilhu^iriitus  Florentine  are  sf)  well  known  that  it  is 
needless  t^i  relate  thi-m.  yet  it  is  not  so  gener.illy  known  that  loni,' 
after  that  event  eminent  pious  and  learned  Protestant-s  viewed 
Galileo's  doctrine  with  the  sjimc  alarm  and  abhorrence  as  the 
Romish  Church  profes.sed  to  feel.  In  a  theological  work  pub- 
lished at  Utrecht  in  1048,  it  is  asserted  as  a  truth,  that  the  sun 
flies  round  tin-  earth  even,-  twenty-four  hours,  and  that  the  earth 
rests  immovably  in  the  centre  of  the  universe.  "  This,"  said  one 
of  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  Reformed  Church,  "  we  affirm, 
with  all  divines,  natural  philosophers,  and  astronomers,  Jews  and 
Mahometims,  Greeks  and  Latins,  e.vcepting  one  or  two  of  the  an- 


2  INTRODUCTORY. 

cients,  and  the  modern  followers  of  Copernicus."*  It  is  stated 
tlie  theory  of  the  earth's  figure  being  that  of  an  extended 
plain,  was  current  among  the  Christian  fathers,  though  they  in 
general  disapproved  and  shumied  the  study  of  physical  sub- 
jects. We  are  informed  that  only  by  slow  degrees  the  general 
doctrine  of  a  globular  foi-m  made  its  way  among  men,  and  that 
to  a  much  later  period  the  immobility  of  the  earth  w^as  main- 
tained. Considerably  within  the  last  two  centuries  that  opinion 
was  the  general  belief  of  all  denominations  of  Christians. f  In 
respect  to  the  discovery  of  the  con-position  of  light  by  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  Mr.  Playfair  says,  "  though  it  was  brought  forward  in 
a  most  simple  and  unpretending  form,  hosts  of  enemies  appeared, 
each  eager  to  obtain  the  unfortunate  pre-eminence  of  being  the 
first  to  attack  conclusions  which  the  unanimous  voice  of  posterity 
was  to  confirm." 

Mr.  Hume,  the  historian,  mentions  the  fact  that  "  Harvey  w^as 
treated  with  great  contumely  on  account  of  his  discovery  of  the 
circulation  of  the  blood,  and  in  consequence  lost  his  practice." 

In  this  country  it  is  known  in  what  manner  Fitch  and  Fulton 
were  received  when  they  first  made  known  then-  theory  for  the 
application  of  steam  to  mechanical  operations.  The  fii-st  died 
through  poverty  and  neglect.  The  other,  for  many  years,  though 
he  applied  to  those  of  this  country  and  Europe  who  woidd  be 
supposed  to  assist  such  an  undertaking,  yet  was  unable  to  pro- 
cure aid,  was  treated  with  neglect,  and  his  plans  considered 
those  of  a  visionary.  Even  not  thirty  years  ago  raih'oads  were 
considered  as  impracticable.  In  an  article  in  the  "  Quarterly 
Re\iew,"  the  editor  says,  "As  to  those  persons  who  speculate 
on  the  making  railways  generally  throughout  the  kingdom,  and 
superseding  all  the  canals,  all  the  wagons,  mail  and  stao-e 
coaches,  post-chaises,  and,  in  short,  every  other  mode  of  convey- 
ance by  land  and  by  water,  we  deem  them  and  their  visionary 
schemes  unworthy  of  notice ;"  and  in  allusion  to  an  opinion  ex- 
pressed of  the  probability  of  railway  engines  runnmg  at  the  rate 
of  eighteen  miles  an  hour  on  a  railway  then  in  contemplation 
between  London  and  Woohvich,  the  reviewer  adds — "We  should 
as  soon  expect  the  people  of  Woolwich  to  suffer  themselves  to 

*  Gisb.  Voetii.  Disput.  TheoL,  Vol.  I.,  p.  637  ;  Utrecht,  1648. 
t  See  Appendix,  page  347. 


INTRODUCTOEY. 


be  fired  off  upon  one  of  Congreve's  ricochet  rockets,  as  trust 
themselves  to  the  mercy  of  a  machine  going  at  such  a  rate." 

We  might  give  additional  extracts  of  the  persecution,  lidicule, 
and  condemnation  which  have  ever  awaited  great  discoveries 
from  the  earliest  ages  down  to  the  present  day ;  but  it  is  un- 
necessary, sufficient  having  been  adduced  to  demonstrate  that 
they  ever  have  been  "  treated  with  hostility  by  the  generation 
to  whom  they  were  addressed." 

Mr.  Combe  remarks,  that  "  if  we  are  to  profit  by  the  lessons 
of  history,  we  ought,  after  surveying  these  mortifying  examples 
of  human  weakness  and  wickedness,  to  dismiss  from  our  minds 
every  prejudice  against  the  present  subject  founded  on  its  hos- 
tile reception  by  men  of  established  reputation  of  the  present 
day."  He  adds,  that  "  if  the  new  theory  should  prove  true,  pos- 
terity will  view  the  contumelies  heaped  on  its  founders  as  an- 
other dark  speck  in  the  history  of  discovery,  and  that  he  who 
wishes  to  avoid  all  participation  in  this  ungenerous  treatment 
should  dismiss  prejudice  and  calmly  listen  to  evidence  and  rea- 
son, and  thus  not  encounter  the  chance  of  adding  his  name  to 
the  melancholy  list  of  the  enemies  of  mankind  by  refusing,  on 
the  strength  of  mere  prejudice,  to  be  instructed  in  the  new  doc- 
trines when  submitted  to  his  consideration." 

Trusting  that  such  are  the  sentiments  of  the  reader,  we  shall 
briefly  allude,  as  a  foundation  for  our  inquiry,  to  that  method  of 
interpreting  and  teachmg  the  Scriptures  which  has  for  so 
many  years  been  in  vogue.  Thus  an  eminent  authority  says : 
"We  have  no  right  to  sit  in  judgment  over  the  Holy  Oracles ; 
that  in  all  things  in  relation  to  them  an  entire  and  unconditional 
surrender  of  our  mmds  must  be  given ;  that  the  question  should 
be,  not  what  thinkest  thou,  but  tvhat  readest  thou.'"  In  defence 
of  this  course  of  proceeding,  it  is  asserted  that  the  authenticity 
of  the  Scriptures  has  been  proved,  and  hence  the  time  has  gone 
by  when  they  should  be  examined  and  scrutinized. 

In  regard  to  a  view  like  this,  we  must  beg  leave  to  enter  our 
dissent.  With  multitudes  the  question,  "  What  thinkest  thou?" 
has  not  yet  been  determined,  and  until  it  has,  it  may  well  be 
said  it  is  in  vain  to  substitute  tlie  principle  of  "  what  readest 
thou." 

We  hardly  need  say,  too,  that  the  sentiment  that  "  every 


4  INTEODUCTORY. 

thought  must  be  brought  into  the  captivity  of  obedience,"  would 
not  oiily  take  rwaj  that  which  is  held  most  sacred,  the  right  of 
private"  judgment,  but  would  confirm  the  Catholic  in  the  creed 
which  for  centuries  has  held  its  terrible  sway.  The  belief  would 
also  destroy  the  hope  of  a  Church  ever  being  founded,  which, 
from  the  intelhgence  of  its  members,  should  present  an  impene- 
trable bulwark  against  the  attacks  of  infidelity. 

A  distinguished  writer,  after  quoting  with  approbation  the 
catechetical  aphorism,  that  the  chief  end  of  man  is  to  glorify 
his  Creator,  observes,  that  "  the  perfections  of  God  are  the  glory 
of  his  character ;  that  in  order  that  these  may  be  disclosed  by 
one  intelligent  creature  to  another,  it  is  plainly  necessary  that 
he  should  first  know  them  or  understand  what  they  are  ;  this 
knowledge  being  the  basis  on  which  all  other  in  regard  to  them 
must  be  founded.  Without  this  knowledge  mankind  might  in- 
deed glorify  God  as  he  is  glorified  by  the  mtite,  2yassive,  incogi- 
tative  works  of  his  hands,  such  as  earth,  plants,  and  trees,  that  is, 
by  being  displays  of  his  power  and  skill  to  conscious  beings ; 
but  they  cannot  in  this  glorify  him  as  intelligent  beings." 

Lord  Bacon,  the  father  of  modern  philosophy,  confirms  the 
above,  and  says :  "  Let  no  man  taking  the  credit  of  a  sobriety 
and  moderation  ill  applied,  think  or  maintain  that  man  can 
search  too  far  in  the  book  of  God's  Word,  but  rather  let  them 
excite  themselves  to  the  search  and  boldly  advance  in  the  pur- 
suit of  an  endless  progress  in  it ;  only  taking  heed  lest  they  ap- 
ply their  knowledge  to  arrogance  and  not  charity,  to  ostentation, 
not  use."  If  the  Scriptures  are  examined  in  respect  to  this  sub- 
ject, it  is  found  that  they  do  not  require  us  to  worship  the  Cre- 
ator except  by  making  use  of  our  noblest  powers ;  and  in  lan- 
guage worthy  the  Divine  Father  it  is  said,  "  Come,  let  us  reason 
together,"  and  throughout  the  inspired  volume  we  are  asked  to 
judge  of  God  and  his  works. 

By  asserting  that  the  principle  "  what  thinkest  thou,"  should 
not  be  applied  to  the  Scriptures,  that  reason  should  conform  to 
faith,  the  utmost  advantage  is  given  to  the  skeptic,  and  there 
is  nothing  more  pleasing  to  the  infidel  philosopher  than  to 
have  it  understood  that  the  Bible  holds  forth  doctrines  which 
set  at  defiance  all  modern  discoveries.  A  writer  of  note  says 
that  "  more  than  half  the  work  of  Atheism  is  done,  if  the  world 


INTRODUCTOKY. 


can  be  persuaded  that  Christianity  contemplates  the  surrender 
of  the  deductions  of  reason,  and  sets  up  the  Christian  plan  as 
something  that  stands  in  irreconcilable  opposition  to  the  coui-se 
of  nature  and  the  just  process  of  thought." 

Those  religious  persons  who  assert  that  the  human  mind  is 
weak  and  faUible,  and  incapable  of  judging  concerning  the  Holy- 
Oracles,  do  not  appear  to  be  aware  that  they  are  asserting  that 
which,  if  fully  carried  out,  would  destroy  confidence  in  all  truth, 
even  that  of  the  Bible  itself.  For,  as  is  truly  observed,  "  admit- 
ting that  there  are  persons  who  are  in  possession  of  truth,  they 
must  have  received  it  from  some  who  went  before  them ;  they 
again  from  the  generation  before  that ;  and  so  on  till  we  come 
back  to  the  mind  who  received  the  truth  directly  from  God. 
But  these  first  recipients  must  have  vised  their  own  impressions 
obtained  either  through  some  reason  or  feeling,  and  they  must 
have  transmitted  these  through  the  medium  of  other  minds. 
If  these  faculties,  therefore,  are  so  weak,  wavy,  and  deceptive 
as  is  supposed,  what  guarantee  have  we  that  they  have  either 
appreciated  or  transmitted  truth  with  faultless  accuracy?" 

The  same  author  adds,  "  that  in  matter  of  fact  private  judg- 
ment must  be  exercised  whether  we  will  or  not.  We  came 
into  God's  world  without  any  mark  upon  our  spirits  to  tell  us 
where  we  are  to  find  the  truth,  and  it  is  equally  a  matter  of  pri- 
vate opinion  whether  we  determine  to  work  out  our  own  system 
of  religious  belief  for  ourselves,  or  whether  we  determine  to 
yield  to  the  authority  of  others.  If  reason,  then,  be  invalid,  this 
very  determination  which  it  makes  to  resign  itself  into  the  hands 
of  authority,  may  be  an  erroneous  judgment.  In  short,  if  the 
validity  of  reason  be  once  destroyed,  nothing,  not  even  revela- 
tion, which  must  be  received  through  its  medium,  can  save  us 
from  universal  skepticism,  that  is,  a  universal  reductio  ad  ab- 
surdum."* 

The  next  point  we  shall  consider  before  entering  into  further 
explanation,  is  in  respect  to  the  divine  law  and  order  in  which 
the  Deity  exists.  In  regard  to  this  important  subject  a  variety 
of  opinions  prevail,  some  even  supposing  that  the  Deity  can  act 

*  Morell's  View  of  the  Philosophy  of  Europe  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 
Vol.  n.,  p.  289. 


6  INTKODUCTOKT, 

in  opposition  to  his  attribute  of  justice,  and  that  it  is  not  true 
that  "order  is  Heaven's  first  law."  It  will  be  our  endeavor  in 
the  present  section  briefly  to  examine  the  subject,  to  show  the 
fallacy  and  pernicious  tendency  of  views  of  this  nature,  and  to 
exhibit  the  importance  of  adopting,  as  a  fundamental  principle, 
the  behef  which  teaches  that  "  there  are  divine  or  spiritual  laws 
as  fixed  and  immutable  as  those  which  govern  the  natural  world." 
And  first,  to  introduce  the  subject,  let  us  state  what  is  designa- 
ted by  the  term  law  : 

Law,  as  generally  understood,  designates  a  rule  of  action,  or 
it  is  the  general  command  of  one  intelligent  being  to  another 
intelligent  being  ;  or,  as  remarked  by  Blackstone,  "  it  is  a  rule  of 
conduct  prescribed  by  the  superior  power  of  the  State  com- 
mandino-  what  is  right  and  'prohibiting  what  is  wrong." 

In  considering  the  facts  relating  to  law,  it  is  readily  seen  that 
nothing  can  be  done  without  it,  and  it  is  necessary  for  the  very 
existence  of  the  present  state  of  things.  A  child  first  learns  the 
immutable  lessons  concerning  law  from  his  parents ;  for  their 
commands  are  at  this  period  of  his  life  the  law  to  him,  and  obe- 
dience is  required.  At  school  the  child  also  learns  his  second 
great  lesson  concerning  law,  and  begins  to  perceive  that  it  is  for 
his  interests  to  comply  with  the  regulations  of  the  teacher. 
Again,  as  the  youth  reaches  the  age  of  manhood,  he  becomes 
better  acquainted  with  the  general  principles  of  law,  and  of  the 
necessity  of  obedience  to  its  dictates.  He  sees  that  if  laws  were 
not  enacted  and  prisons  did  not  exist,  there  would  be  safety  for 
neither  life  nor  property,  and  the  country  would  be  left  to  the 
mercy  of  plunderers.  Nowhere  does  he  see  a  better  instance 
illustrating  the  stem  necessity  of  law  and  order  being  maintained 
than  when  a  fierce  and  infuriated  mob  have  collected.  In  this 
case  he  sees  that  if  the  rioters  were  not  put  down,  not  only 
would  the  greatest  of  enormities  be  perpetrated,  but  at  the 
same  time  it  would  afford  a  precedent  for  another  like  occasion, 
and  in  which  possibly  his  own  hfe  and  property  would  be 
sacrificed. 

The  young  man  upon  advancing  on  his  career  still  further  per- 
ceives the  necessity  on  all  occasions  of  having  a  proper  respect 
for  the  majesty  of  the  law,  for  he  now  sees  that  the  Universe 
itself  is  governed  by  fixed  and  unchangeable  laws.     He  becomes 


INTEODUCTOKY.  7 

aware  that  he  himself  is  governed  by  physical  or  natui*al  laws 
which  are  as  plainly  written  as  if  inscribed  in  letters  of  fire  in 
the  heavens.  He  perceives  that  these  are  the  laws  which  regu- 
late the  enjoyment  of  health,  and  which  must  be  obeyed,  or 
sickness  will  be  the  inevitable  result.  He  now  sees  why  it  is,  if 
he  precipitate  himself  from  a  lofty  elevation,  his  life  would  be  en- 
dangered, and  W'hy,  if  his  hand  is  placed  in  a  burning  flame,  he 
suffers  exquisite  pain,  or  if  poison  be  taken  it  will  cause  his  death. 
He  also  learns  wliat  causes  -water  to  boil  at  a  certain  tempera- 
ture, whether  in  England,  China,  or  America,  and  why  articles 
not  buoyant  sink  in  water.  These  and  other  laws  of  a  similar 
nature  he  finds  are  the  same  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  he  is 
led  to  beheve  they  were  ever  the  same.  He  gives  credence  to 
the  supposition,  not  only  because  all  past  and  present  experience 
prove  the  similarity,  but  also  from  the  reason  that  the  Scriptures 
concur  in  enforcing  the  behef,  and  infonn  him  that  God,  from 
whom  are  derived  nature's  laws,  is  an  imchangeable  Being,  the 
same  to-day  as  yesterday. 

Nothing  is  more  convincing  to  him  that  "  order  is  Heaven's  first 
law,"  than  an  examination  of  the  vast  planetary  system,  and  the 
sight  of  countless  worlds  moving  in  the  most  exact  and  majestic 
order.  The  mere  mention  of  the  unerring  mathematical  calcula- 
tions, which  the  navigator  and  astronomer  are  enabled  to  make, 
is  sufficient  to  confirm  his  belief.  Again,  when  he  examines  the 
vegetable,  the  animal,  and  the  mineral  kingdoms,  he  finds  each 
created  after  an  order  and  method  far  more  exact  than  the  most 
perfect  specimen  of  human  mechanism.  All  things  which  he 
scrutinizes,  even  to  the  tiny  msect  fluttering  before  him,  he  finds 
created  after  a  law  and  order  peculiar  to  itself,  and  without 
which  it  could  not  exist. 

Now  he  can  perceive  why  "  order  is  Heaven's  first  law." 
He  finds  it  thus,  because  the  great  Creator,  considered  as  the 
ruler  of  the  universe,  its  director  and  preserver,  must  necessarily 
have  a  plan,  order,  and  method  in  his  vast  and  intricate  affairs, 
or  all  would  be  in  disorder  and  perish.  He  sees  that  the  same 
regulations  which  are  observed  in  regard  to  the  preservation  of 
order  in  carrying  out  any  great  undertaking,  or  even  to  the  pres- 
ervation of  order  in  a  piece  of  intricate  mechanism,  are  applicable 
to  the  work  of  the  mighty  Architect,  and  that  when  he  created 


8  li^TEODUCTOKY. 

he  formed  all  things  in  the  most  perfect  order,  and  by  his  om- 
nipotence sustains  them. 

Such  views  of  God's  laws,  and  of  the  divine  order  in  which 
he  exists,  we  may  suppose  the  youth  of  the  nmeteenth  century 
might  form ;  and  now  let  us  proceed  with  the  inquiry,  why  it  is 
we°are  led  to  believe  that  the  Supreme  Being  is  so  governed  by 
any  law  that  he  cannot  surpass  it.  To  this  question,  with  rev- 
erence we  reply  :  first,  that  it  is  a  law  of  Heaven,  and  which  can- 
not be  changed,  that  there  should  le  fixed  and  permanent  things, 
or  otherwise  all  would  be  changeable  and  inconstant,  and  we 
could  be  sure  of  nothing ;  neither  of  summer  nor  -svinter,  seed- 
time nor  harvest,  and  literally  would  not  know  what  a  day  or 
hour  might  bring  forth.  Again :  God  is  governed  by  the  law 
which  regulates  the  administration  of  perfect  justice.  If  the 
Deity,  as  a  moment's  reflection  will  convince,  could  act  in  an 
unjust  manner,  he  Avould  not  be  God,  but  his  opposite,  and  a 
spirit  of  evil ;  therefore  whatever  he  does,  he  is  necessitated  to 
act  the  part  of  a  wise  and  beneficent  Being.  Such  a  view  of  the 
subject  is  corroborated  by  the  words  of  Scripture ;  and  we  are 
repeatedly  informed  that  "justice  and  judgment  are  the  habita- 
tion of  his  throne,"  and  that  it  is  "  far  from  God  that  he  should 
do  wickedness,  and  from  the  Almighty,  that  he  should  commit 
iniquity." 

Again :  the  subject  of  God's  omnipotence,  and  of  his  acting 
according  to  the  divine  laws  and  order,  is  illustrated  by  taking 
the  case  of  a  human  being.  Such  a  one  is,  we  are  informed, 
made  after  God's  likeness  and  image,  and  procures  all  his  might 
from  the  observance  of  the  order  and  laws  by  which  he  is  cre- 
ated ;  if  he  evades  those  primal  laws  his  strength  is  gone  and 
he  becomes  sick,  disordered,  and  powerless.  As  we  understand 
the  Scriptures,  it  is  the  same  with  the  Deity  ;  for  if  it  were  pos- 
sible to  destroy  the  divine  law  and  order  in  which  and  by  which 
he  exists,  as  believed  by  some,  he  would,  so  far  from  being 
more  powerful,  be  without  omnipotence  and  powerless.  If  or- 
der, or  good,  be  united  to  disorder,  or  evil,  it  would  become  the 
same ;  hence  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  Deity  can  exist  in 
disorder,  and  be  the  author  of  confusion,  it  cannot  be  believed  he 
can  exist  except  in  the  most  perfect  order. 

It  may  be  said,  an  Omnipotence  in  any  possible  way  Umited,  is 


INTRODUCTOKT.  » 

a  contradiction.  To  this  we  reply  :  that  it  is  not  a  contradiction 
to  act  according  to  the  laws  of  justice  with  sound  judgment ;  but 
it  would  be  a  contradiction  if  the  Deity  acted  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  his  justice  and  goodness,  for  this  would  be  acting  con- 
trary to  his  wisdom,  or  himself.  The  greatest  of  contradictions 
is  implied  in  the  faith  which  virtually  teaches  that  the  Deity  can 
work  evil,  or  transform  himself  into  a  spirit  of  darkness ;  for,  as 
before  observed,  this  would  render  us  unable  to  distinguish  good 
from  evil,  or  the  Deity  from  his  opposite. 

It  is  probable  that  if  ever  the  omnipotence  of  the  Deity  was 
exerted  to  the  utmost,  it  was  in  adopting  means  by  which  his 
laws  and  statutes  might  be  made  known.  The  miracles  in 
Egypt,  at  the  Red  Sea,  that  in  the  Avilderness,  and  the  terrific 
one  wrought  at  Sinai,  were  performed  solely  and  expressly  for 
this  purpose,  and  with  the  intention  of  inculcating  upon  the  Is- 
raelites, and  through  them  the  rest  of  mankind,  the  importance 
and  necessity  of  obedience.  Repeatedly  it  is  said.  Obey  my 
laws ;  keep  my  statutes,  and  health,  happiness,  and  prosperity 
will  attend  you :  disobey,  and  ruin  and  misery  will  inevitably 
follow. 

To  the  reflective  mind,  the  mere  fact  that  because  Heaven's 
law  was  broken  by  man's  disobedience  the  Saviour  was  necessi- 
tated to  appear  upon  this  earth,  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  demon- 
strate the  existence  of  divine  laws.  And  the  stern,  inexor- 
able necessity  of  obedience  to  them,  even  to  the  smallest,  is  ren- 
dered evident  from  the  words  of  Scripture,  intimating  that  so 
great  and  important  are  they,  that  it  is  easier  for  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  to  pass  away  than  for  one  tittle  of  them  to  fail. 

Mr.  Tupper  tlius  beautifully  illustrates  our  observations  con- 
cerning Law  and  Order : 

"  Law  hath  dominion  over  all  tilings,  over  universal  mind  and  matter ; 
For  there  are  reciprocities  of  right  which  no  creature  can  gainsay. 
Unto  each  was  there  added  by  its  Maker,  in  the  perfection  of  being, 
Dependencies  and  sustentations,  accidents,  and  qualities,  and  powers ; 
And  each  must  fly  forward  iu  the  curve  into  which  it  was  forced  from 

the  beginning; 
Each  must  attract  and  repel,  or  the  monarchy  of  Order  is  no  more. 
Laws  are  essential  emanations  from  the  self-poised  character  of  God, 
And  thej-  radiate  from  that  Sun  to  the  circling  edges  of  creation. 
Verily,  the  mighty  Lawgiver  hath  subjected  himself  unto  laws, 


10  INTEODUCTOEY. 

And  God  is  the  primal  grand  example  of  free,  unrestrained  obedience ; 
His  perfection  is  limited  by  right,  and  cannot  trespass  unto  wrong. 
Because  he  hath  estabUshed  himself  as  the  foimtam  of  only  good. 
And  in  thus  much  is  bounded,  that  the  evil  hath  he  left  unto  another 
And  that  dark  other  hath  usurped  the  evil  which  Omnipotence  laid 

down. 
Unto  God  there  exist  impossibilities ;  for  the  True  One  cannot  he, 
Nor  can  the  Wise  One  wander  from  the  track  which  he  hath  deter- 
mined for  liimself ; 
For  his  will  was  purposed  from  eternity,  strong  in  the  love  of  order ; 
And  that  will  altereth  not,  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians. 
God  is  the  origin  of  Order,  and  the  first  exemplar  of  his  precept." 
The  source  of  the  behef  that  all  things  are  possible  with  God, 
even  though  they  shock  our  clearest  ideas  of  right  and  wrong, 
originated  wth  those  who  were  overwhelmed  by  the  vastness  of 
creation,  and  at  the  existence  of  a  Being  without  beginning  or 
end.     These  circumstances,  joined  with  the  wonderful  events  re- 
lated in  the  Scriptures,  were  so  surprising,  so  contraiy  to  their 
ordinary  experience,  that  in  an  unfortunate  moment  they  came 
to  the  conclusion,  in  their  desire  to  praise  the  Deity,  that  it  was 
the  better  part  to  banish  the  use  of  reason  in  reference  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  believe  that  nothing  was  impossible  to  the  Cre- 
ator, and  this  in  the  most  unlimited  sense.     Nothing  is  impos- 
sible to  the  Deity,  rationally  considered ;  for  we  know  and  hum- 
bly acknowledge  that  we  are  as  nothing  ;  that  this  vast  planetary 
system  is  but  as  a  single  point  in  the  unhmitcd  universe ;    and 
there  are  mysteries  in  the  Scriptures  which  it  is  m  vain  for  the 
human  mind  to  attempt  to  pierce ;  yet  it  was  not  from  this  in- 
tended that  we  should  not  reason  concerning  the  Holy  Oracles, 
or  beUeve  that  it  was  possible  that  the  Deity  coidd  prove  false,  or 
act  contradictory  to  himself. 

It  is  the  most  hrational  manner  in  which  the  words  possibility 
and  impossibility  are  used,  to  which  we  object ;  for  how  many 
are  there,  who  have  so  firm  a  behef  in  the  magical  words  om- 
nipotence and  faith,  that  if  asked  the  most  absurd  of  questions, 
would  make  it  a  point  of  duty  to  answer  in  the  affinuative.  Now 
such  a  belief,  and  the  idea  frequently  taught  concerning  omnipo- 
tence, or  that  God  is  without  order,  and  responsible  to  no  law, 
though  well  intended,  is  not  far  from  the  grossest  superstition ; 
and  instead  of  adding  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Deity,  robs  him 
of  his  glory,  leaves  the  mind  enveloped  in  darkness  and  imcer- 


INTKODUCTORY.  1 1 

tainty,  creates  the  most  erroneous  and  false  ideas  concerning  the 
truths  of  the  Scriptures,  and  too  frequently  is  the  direct  cause  of 
secret  skepticism  and  infidelity. 

Let  us  admit  that  the  di\ine  benevolence  and  wisdom  can 
originate  evil,  or,  as  expressed  by  the  Scriptures,  "  do  -wickedness 
and  commit  iniquity,"  and  we  are  lost  in  a  sea  of  inextricable  con- 
fusion ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  admitting  that  all  things  are  pos- 
sible except  the  former,  and  we  have  an  unerring  clue  to  disen- 
tangle the  thousand  eiTors  by  which  Ave  are  surrounded — have  a 
gmde  to  show  why  so  distressing  a  thing  as  sin  was  permitted  to 
exist,  and  are  sho^-n  why  the  place  of  future  retribution  is  not 
erased  from  creation. 


SECTION   II. 


NECESSITY  OF  AN  INTERNAL  SENSE  TO  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

It  was  intimated  in  the  Preface,  that  there  was  a  hidden  or  in- 
ternal sense  to  the  words  of  Scripture,  which  was  superior  to 
that  of  the  mere  letter.  That  this  is  the  case,  we  shall  endeavor 
to  make  apparent  in  the  present  section. 

1.  If  an  internal  sense  be  not  admitted,  there  are  chapters  and 
nmiierous  passages  in  the  Sacred  Oracles,  which  are  Avhollj^  unin- 
telhgible ;  as,  for  instance,  the  following  taken  from  the  book  of 
Ezekiel,  chap,  xxxix :  "  And  thou  son  of  man,  thus  saith  the  Lord  :  -, 
speak  to  the  fowl  of  eveiy  wing,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field ; 
Assemble  yourselves,  and  come,  and  gather  yourselves  on  every 
side  to  my  sacrifice,  that  I  do  sacrifice  for  you  (even),  a  great 
sacrifice  upon  the  mountains  of  Israel,  that  ye  may  eat  flesh  of  the 
mighty,  and  drink  the  blood  of  the  princes  of  the  earth,  and  of 
lambs,  and  of  goats ;  of  buEocks,  all  of  them  fatlings  of  Bashan. 
And  ye  shall  eat  fat  till  ye  be  full,  and  drink  blood  till  ye  be 
di-unken,  of  my  sacrifice  which  I  have  sacrificed  for  you.  Thus 
shall  ye  be  filled  at  my  table  luith  horses  and  chariots,  with  might]/ 
men,  and  all  men  of  war,  saith  the  Lord  God." 

In  another  part  of  the  same  Book  it  is  vkTitten :  "  Also  out 
of  the  midst  thereof,  came  the  hkeness  of  fom*  h\Ting  crea- 
tures. And  this  was  their  appearance  ;  they  had  the  hkeness  of 
a  man.  And  eveiy  one  had  fom*  faces,  and  eveiy  one  had  four 
wings.  And  their  feet  were  straight  feet ;  and  the  sole  of  their 
feet  was  hke  the  sole  of  a  calf's  foot ;  and  they  sparkled  like  the 
color  of  burnished  brass.  And  they  had  the  hands  of  a  man 
under  their  wings  on  their  four  sides  ;  and  they  foiu*  had  their 
faces  and  their  wings.     Their  wings  were  joined  one  to  another ; 


THE   SUBJECT   CONTINUED.  13 

they  turned  not  when  they  went,  they  went  eveiy  one  straight 
forward.  As  for  the  hkeness  of  theu-  faces,  they  four  had  the 
face  of  a  man  and  the  face  of  a  Hon  on  the  right  side ;  and  they 
four  had  the  face  of  an  ox  on  the  left  side ;  they  four  also  had 
the  face  of  an  eagle." 

It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  these  passages,  and  there  are  others 
of  the  same  nature,  are  so  abstruse  and  hieroglyphical,  that  it  is 
utterly  impossible  to  gather  any  rational  sense  or  meaning  from 
them ;  and  thus  far,  no  one  has  given  any  interpretation  wiiich  is 
at  all  satisfactory ;  yet  it  is  endent  that  there  is  a  meaning  and 
true  sense,  and  that  they  were  not  recorded  in  the  sacred  vol- 
ume except  for  benefiting  mankind. 

"  Without  the  spiritual  (or  internal)  sense,"  says  an  eminent 
writer,  "  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  know  why  the  prophet 
Jeremiah  Avas  commanded  to  buy  himself  a  girdle,  and  not  to 
draw  it  through  the  waters,  but  to  go  to  Euphrates,  and  hide  it 
there  in  a  hole  in  the  rock  (Jer.  xiii.  l-r?) ;  or  Avhy  Ezekiel  the 
prophet  was  commanded  to  make  a  razor  pass  upon  his  head 
and  upon  his  beard,  and  afterwards  to  divide  them,  and  to  burn  a 
third  part  in  the  midst  of  the  city,  and  to  smite  a  third  part  with 
the  sword,  and  to  scatter  a  third  part  in  the  Avind,  and  to  bind  a 
little  of  them  in  his  skirts,  and  at  last  to  cast  them  into  the  midst 
of  the  fire  (Ezek.  v.  1 — 4) ;  or  why  Hosea  was  twice  commanded 
to  take  to  himself  a  harlot  to  wif(^  (Hos.  i.  2 — 9 ;  iii.  2,  3) ;  or 
what  is  signitied  by  all  things  appertaining  to  the  tabernacle ;  as 
by  the  ark,  the  mercy-seat,  the  cherubim,  the  candlestick,  the 
altar  of  incense,  the  shew-bread  on  the  table,  and  veils  and  cm*- 
tains.  Who  would  know,  Avithout  the  spiritual  sense,  what  is 
signified  by  Aaron's  holy  garments  ;  as  by  his  coat,  his  cloak,  the 
ephod,  the  urim  and  thummim,  the  mitre,  and  several  things  be- 
sides ■?  Or,  without  the  spiritual  sense,  w^ho  would  know  what  is 
signified  by  all  those  particulars  which  were  enjoined  concerning 
burnt-offerings,  sacrifices,  meat-offeiings ;  and  also  concerning 
sabbaths  and  feasts  ?  The  tnith  is,  that  nothing  was  enjoined, 
be  it  ever  so  minute,  but  what  was  significative  of  something  ap- 
pertaining to  the  Lord,  to  heaven,  and  to  the  Church.  From 
these  few  instances,  then,  it  may  be  plainly  seen  that  there  is  a 

spiritual  sense  in  all  and  every  part  of  the  Word." — (See  Doctrine 

Concerning  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  n.  16.) 


14  NECKSSITY    OF   AN    INTERNAL   SENSE. 

Reference  can  be  made  to  distinguished  and  eminent  authori- 
ties, who  have  ever  believed  that  there  was  an  internal  and 
hidden  sense  to  be  attributed  to  the  words  of  Scripture,  the 
knowledge  of  which  was  far  more  impoilant  than  that  indicated 
by  the  letter.  Dr.  Mosheim,  the  eminent  author  of  the  Ecclesi- 
astical History,  mentions,  among  the  illustrious  writei-s  of  the 
second  centmy,  and  men  most  renowned  for  their  piety  and  eru- 
dition, the  names  of  Pantcenus,  Clemens  the  Alexandrian,  Tatian, 
Justin  Martyr,  and  Theophilus,  Bishop  of  Antioch  ;  and  concern- 
ing these  distingmshed  luminaries  in  the  church,  he  says  :  "  They 
all  attributed  a  double  sense  to  the  words  of  Scripture ;  the  one 
obvious  and  literal,  the  other  hidden  and  mysterious,  which  lay 
concealed,  as  it  were,  under  the  A'eil  of  the  outward  letter.  The 
former  they  treated  with  the  utmost  neglect,  and  turned  the 
whole  force  of  their  genius  and  application  to  unfold  the  latter." 
— [Cent.  II.,  part  2*  chap.  Hi.  4,  5.) 

Among  the  Christian  Fathers  of  the  third  centur}-,  the  name 
of  Origen  stands  pre-eminent.  Speaking  of  the  principal  writers 
that  distinguished  themselves  in  it  (the  third  century)  by  their 
learned  and  pious  productions.  Dr.  Mosheim  says :  "  The  most 
eminent  of  these,  whether  we  consider  the  extent  of  his  fame  or 
the  multiplicity  of  his  labors,  was  Origen,  presbyter  and  catechist 
of  Alexandria ;  a  man  of  vast  and  uncommon  abilities,  and  the 
greatest  luminary  of  the  Christian  world  that  this  age  exhibited 
to  view.  His  virtues  and  his  labors  deserve  the  admu-ation  of  all 
ages  ;  and  his  name  will  be  transmitted  with  honor  thi'ough  the 
annals  of  time,  as  long  as  learning  and  genius  shall  be  esteemed 
among  men."* — {Cent.  Ill,  jiart  2,  chap.  ii.  1.) 

Such  is  the  eulogistic  language  which  our  historian  employs 
in  speaking  of  Origen.  And  he  tells  us  in  another  chapter,  that 
this  illustrious  man  maintained  and  taught  that  the  principal,  wis- 
dom of  God's  Word  lies  within  or  above  the  letter.     To  cite  his 

*  The  historian  Gibbon  confirms  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Moslieim.  In  ref- 
erence to  the  Bubject,  he  says,  "that  tlie  most  learned  of  the  Fathers,  by  a 
very  singular  condescension,  have  imprudently  admitted  the  sophistry  of 
the  Gnostics.  Acknowledging  that  the  literal  sense  is  repugnant  to  every 
principle  of  faith,  as  well  as  reason,  they  deem  themselves  secure  and  invul- 
nerable behind  the  ample  veil  of  allegory,  which  they  carefully  spread  over 
every  tender  part  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation."— Fo?.  /.,  p.  231,  Harper's  edi- 
tion. 


^         ^ 


GEOLOGICAL   AND   OTHER   EVIDENCE.  15 

own  language  :  "  He  (Origen)  alleged,  that  the  words  of  Scrip- 
ture were,  in  many  places,  absolutely  void  of  sense ;  and  that 
though  in  others  there  were,  indeed,  certain  notions  conveyed 
under  the  outward  terms,  according  to  their  literal  force  and  im- 
port, yet  it  was  not  in  these  that  t^e  true  meaning  of  the  sacred 
writers  was  to  be  sought,  but  in  a  mysterious  and  hidden  sense 
arising  from  the  nature  of  the  things  themselves.  This  hidden 
sense  he  endeavors  to  investigate  throughout  his  Commentaries." 
(Cent.  III.,  part  2,  chap.  Hi.  5.)  And  in  the  next  section  of 
the  same  chapter,  the  historian  adds :  "  A  2i^'odigious  number  of 
interpreters,  both  in  this  and  succeeding  ages,  followed  the 
method  of  Origen,  though  Avith  some  vanation." — (See  Barrett's 
Lectures,  p.  164.) 

Without  comment  upon  the  above,  we  would  now  call  atten- 
tion to  geological,  and  other  evidence,  in  regard  to  the  work  of 
Creation,  and  which,  we  believe,  substantiates  the  grounds  taken. 

All  who  ai-e  conversant  with  Geology,  are  aware  that  it  now 
takes  its  place  among  the  rigid  and  exact  sciences  ;  and  its  truths 
are  considered  capable  of  demonstration.  Now  it  is  evinced,  that 
the  same  faculties  which  enable  us  to  consider  Geology  as  true, 
enable  us  to  believe  that  the  Bible  is  a  sacred  book  and  the  Word 
of  God.  This  being  the  case,  we  cannot  deny  the  one  without 
the  other ;  for  our  knowledge  of  both  was  acquired  by  obsersa- 
tion  of  occurrences  and  facts,  which  in  all  went'  to  fix  our  belief 
in  the  truth  of  the  particular  knowledge.  The  Sacred  Writings 
(according  to  common  chronology)  inform  us,  that  the  world 
has  existed  only  six  thousand  years  ;  Geology,  on  the  other  hand, 
asserts  to  the  contrary,  and  by  facts  which  it  is  impossible  to 
deny,  proves  that  this  is  not  the  age  of  the  earth,  but  that  it  is 
far  more  ancient.  Here  in  this  case  is  a  direct  contradiction ;  for 
both  cannot  be  tnie.  Yet  upon  no  account  is  the  Bible  to  be  re- 
jected ;  for  we  believe  that  every  part,  even  to  the  most  seeming 
insignificant  passage,  is  of  the  utmost  value :  hence  the  plain 
inference,  and  there  is  no  other,  that  the  narrative  of  the  Crea- 
tion, as  recorded  in  the  Scriptures,  is  chiefly  written  in  an  allc' 
gorical  and  figurative  manner,  and  conveys  a  different  sense  than 
that  indicated  by  the  mere  letter. 

The  Rev.  Baden  Powell,  Professor  of  Geometry  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford,  one  of  the  most  profound  writers  of  the  present 


16  NECESSITY    OF    AN    INTERNAL    SENSE. 

day,  says :  "  With  regard  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  dis- 
crepancy thus  disclosed,  we  shall  observe  that  it  is  not  a  case 
merely  involving  the  question  of  the  literal  acceptation  of  a  word 
or  phrase.  It  is  the  contradiction  of  existing  monuments  of  past 
events,  with  the  obvious  sen^  of  what  is  recorded  as  a  part  of 
divine  revelation,  in  the  form  of  a  circumstantial  nariative  of  the 
same  events.  And  this  discrepancy  is  not  one  with  any  theory 
or  partial  discovery  of  science  Avhich  is  not  thoroughly  made  out, 
and  Avhich  future  investigations  may  modify  or  set  aside,  but 
with  the  broad,  primary  facts,  which  involve  nothing  hypotheti- 
cal, and  which  are  in  reality  identified  with  the  principles  of  all 
truth." — (Kiito's  Bibl.  Cyclop.,  Art.  Creatio7i.) 

Professor  I.  P.  Nichol,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.E.,  of  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  says,  speaking  of  the  primitive  formation  and  early 
condition  of  the  world,  that  "  the  periods  of  time  required  for 
these  events  it  is  impossible  to  estimate ;  but  that  they  were 
indefinitely  longer  than  that  which  has  been  imputed  to  the 
earth's  existence  by  many,  or  recorded  data,  is  unquestionable. 
Myriads  of  years  may  indeed  have  been  required  for  the  forma- 
tion of  one  stratum,  or  for  the  appearance  and  ultimate  extinction 
of  an  entire  race  or  order  of  existences,  now  only  to  be  found 
deeply  imbedded  in  the  interior  of  the  earth."* — [Architecture  of 
the  Heavens,  p.  126.) 

The  majority  of  enlightened  theologians,  aware  of  this  discrep- 
ancy or  difficulty  in  reconciling  geological  facts  with  the  literal 
se-nse  of  the  Scriptures,  endeavor  to  settle  the  mooted  point  by 
asserting  that  the  days  mentioned  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis 
are  not  such  days  as  at  present,  but  might  have  been  six  or  ten 
thousand  years  in  duration.  Dr.  Good  remarks  that  "  we  have 
no  knowledge  whatever  of  the  length  of  the  first  three  or  four 
days,  or  generations,  that  marked  the  great  work  of  Creation, 

*  The  prevalent  opinion  until  recently  has  been,  that  we  are  there  (in 
Genesis)  taught  that  the  world  began  to  exist  on  the  first  of  the  six  days  of 
creation,  or  about  six  thousand  years  ago.  Geologists,  however,  with  one 
voice  declare  that  their  science  indicates  the  earth  to  have  been  of  fur  higher 
antiquity.  The  geological  view  carries  the  mind  back  along  the  flow  of 
countless  ages.  Is  there  any  reason  to  doubt  the  high  antiquity  of  the 
globe  as  demonstrated  by  geology  ?  ■  If  any  point  not  capable  of  mathemati- 
cal demonstration  in  physical  science  is  proved,  surely  this  truth  is  estab- 
'ishcd.— y/ie  lieligion  of  Geology  and  its  Connected  Sciences,  by  Edward 
Hitchcock,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  1851,  pp.  83,  69,  70. 


GEOLOGICAL    EVIDENCE.  17 

antecedently  to  the  completion  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  their  ap- 
pointment to  their  respective  posts  ;  and  hence,  for  all  that  ap- 
peal's to  the  contrary,  they  may  have  been  as  long  as  the  Wer- 
nerian  System  and  the  book  of  Nature.  In  his  argument  he 
endeavoi-s  to  show  that  the  word  day,  in  the  Hebrew,  signifies  a 
generation,  and  frequently  the  whole  term  of  one's  life ;  and  that 
there  is  not  any  word  used  in  a  Avider  latitude  of  construction. 

But  if  it  is  admitted  that  the  term  day  signifies,  in  a  figurative 
sense,  twenty  thousand  years,  or  a  generation,  how  are  we  to 
understand  tlae  description  given  concerning  the  Vegetable  King- 
dom, which,  according  to  the  literal  sense  of  the  Scriptures,  was 
produced  before  the  formation  of  the  sun  ?  The  rays  of  the  sun 
are,  according  to  the  laws  of  nature,  or  God's  laws,  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  growth  of  the  vegetable  world ;  if  tl\e  days 
were  twenty  thousand  yeai-s  or  more  in  duration,  the  earth  must 
have  remained  for  this  immense  period  of  time  clothed  with  vege- 
tation, which  had  sprung  up  and  existed  without  the  sun's  influ- 
ence, as  this  was  not  created  until  tlie  fourth  day  !  The  learned 
Origen  on  this  subject  observes,  that  '  no  one  of  a  sound  mind 
can  imagine  there  was  an  evening  and  moraing  during  the  first 
three  days,  without  a  sun.'  — {Good's  Book  of  Nature,  Art. 
Geology,  p.  79.) 

In  Genesis  it  is  also  stated  that  "  two  great  lights  were  made ; 
the  greater  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  to  rule  the  night ;"  and 
we  are  given  to  understand  that  the  moon,  or  lesser  light,  is 
laro-er  than  any  planet  in  the  solar  system  ;  when,  as  well  known, 
it  is  the  smallest.  There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  the  ancient 
Israelites  understood  it  thus,  and  not  after  the  manner  of  a  New- 
ton or  Herschel.  This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  Coper- 
nican  system,  not  two  hundred  years  ago,  was  generally  disbe- 
lieved by  both  Catholics  and  Protestants,  and  its  promulgators 
were  exposed  to  the  imputation  of  disbelieving  the  Avhole  of  the 
sacred  writings. 

With  this  additional  evidence,  we  will  now  briefly  endeavor  to 
show  that  the  narrative  of  the  Fall  is  of  itself  insufficient  and  un- 
satisfactory, and  plainly  evinces  that  there  is  another  sense  than 
simply  that  conveyed  by  the  letter. 

That  this  is  a  just  inference  is  proved,  first,  from  the  fact 
that  there  is  no  reason  given  to  show  why  the  serpent,  or  evil 

2 


18  NECESSITY    OF   AN    INTKKNAL   SENSE. 

principle,  was  ever  created,  or  after  his  creation  was  allowed  to 
enter  the  Garden  of  Eden.  It  appears  incredible  that  Adam  and 
Eve  should  not  have  been  warned  against  his  devices,  particularly 
as  it  was  an  event  of  such  transcendent  importance,  involving  the 
happiness  of  unborn  myriads.  It  is  contraiy  to  our  daily  experi- 
ence to  believe  that,  even  after  partaking  of  the  interdicted  fruit, 
they  should  so  soon  have  fallen  from  the  high  state  of  excellence 
in  which  they  were  created,  to  such  a  degree  of  degradation. 
At  the  present  time  no  good  man  falls  at  one  assault  upon  his 
morals ;  and  if  not,  and  as  none  can  compare  their  morality  with 
that  of  those  Avho  were  first  created,  then  must  it  be  believed 
that  the  real  fall  of  Adam  and  Eve  is  otherwise  than  represented. 

We  are  led  to  believe  that  there  is  a  great  eiTor  in  receiving 
simply  the  literal  sense  of  what  is  said  respecting  Cain,  in  the 
fourth  chapter  of  Genesis.  It  is  stated,  that  after  he  had  killed 
Abel,  he  had  a  mark  set  upon  him  lest  any  finding  him  should 
kill  him ;  also,  that  after  he  had  gone  from  the  face  of  Jeho- 
vah, he  went  into  the  land  of  Nod  and  took  to  himself  a  wife  and 
built  a  city.  It  does  not  appear  why  a  mark  should  be  set  upon 
him,  when  there  was  no  one  living  at  that  time  except  Adam  and 
Eve,  or  where  he  procured  himself  a  wife.  From  this  it  is  evi- 
dent that  there  must  have  been  others  existing  before  the  Adam 
mentioned,  or  that  the  whole  statement  is  figurative  and  alle- 
gorical. 

In  chap.  iii.  v.  1,  it  is  said,  "  the  serpent  Avas  more  subtile  than 
any  beast  of  the  field ;"  and  that  he  Avas  endowed  Avith  the  pow- 
ers of  speech  and  reason;  that  he  ivalked  erect :  for  this  is  im- 
plied, as  Ave  are  afterAvards  infomied  that  he  Avas  cursed  and 
made  to  creep  upon  his  belly.  We  ask  if  there  is  not  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  snake,  or  serpent,  always  did  creep 
upon  the  ground,  and  that  his  natural  organization  and  genus  are 
such,  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  him  to  Avalk  erect,  or  liave  the 
gift  of  speech  and  reason  ?  A  Avell-knoAvn  biblical  Avriter  re- 
marks (speaking  of  the  serpent,  of  his  being  endowed  Avith 
rational  powers,  &c.),  "  Noav  I  apprehend  that  none  of  th<ise 
things  can  be  spoken  of  a  serpent  of  a  species.  None  of  them 
ever  did  or  ever  can  Avalk  erect."  He  adds,  that  "  the  tales  of 
tAvo-footed  and  four-footed  serpents  are  justly  exploded  by  every 
judicious  Naturalist,  and  are  utterly  unAvorthy  of  credit."— ^(J. 


THE  CUKSE  ON  THE  SERPENT. 


19 


Clarke  s  Comment.,  Gen.  chap,  iii.)  If  the  serpent  is  to  be  taken 
in  a  figurative  sense,  why  may  we  not  believe  that  the  conversa- 
tion held  with  Eve  was  allegorical,  and  never  occurred  in  the 
manner  represented  ?  It  appears  to  us  that  it  cannot  be  consid- 
ered otherwise. 

In  chap.  ii.  v.  2,  we  are  given  plainly  to  understand,  that  the 
great  Creator,  the  author  and  producer  of  countless  systems, 
after  the  formation  of  this  planet,  '•'  rested  on  the  seventh  day 
from  all  his  work  which  he  had  made  !"  It  is  almost  needless 
to  say  there  are  few  who  believe  the  Eternal  One  requires  rest, 
or  is  capable  of  fatigue ;  yet  it  is  stated  that  he  rested,  and  it  is 
implied,  as  far  as  it- is  possible  to  convey  a  meaning  by  the  power 
of  letters,  that  it  was  such  rest  as  a  man  of  this  earth  takes  after 
the  labors  of  the  day.  Either  Ave  must  consider  this  as  a  fact  or 
an  allegory.  That  it  is  the  latter,  it  seems  difficult  for  a  rational 
man  to  deny ;  and  it  is  plainly  evident  that  it  was  written  as  it 
is,  not  only  to  accommodate  it  to  the  minds  of  those  anciently 
living,  and  to  impress  them  with  the  idea  that  the  Avork  produced 
was  so  great  that  even  the  Creator  required  rest,  but  also  to  con- 
vey a  hidden  meaning  to  more  enlightened  generations  in  subse- 
quent times. 

In  chap.  iii.  14,  it  is  Avritten,  that  the  Creator  cursed  the 
serpent  and  the  ground.  It  is  also  stated  in  Deuteronomy  ix. 
19,  "For  I  Avas  afraid  of  the  anger  and  hot  displeasure  Avith 
which  the  Lord  Avas  Avroth  against  you  to  destroy  you;"  and  in 
the  same  chapter  it  is  said,  that  for  a  certaiii  sin  committed  the 
Lord  hated  them  ;  and  throughout  the  Old  Testament  are  found 
like  passages.  We  appeal  to  the  intelligent  reader,  whether  Ave 
can  for  a  moment  suppose  that  the  Creator,  a  Being  of  love  and 
benefiicence,  hates,  or  is  really  angry  with  any  of  his  children  ? 
Anger  signifies  resentment  and  rage,  and  is  that  Avhich  trans- 
forms us  from  rational  beings  into  madmen.  It  is  that  Avhich 
from  earliest  childhood  we  haA'e  been  admonished  to  suppress, 
and  Avhich  the  Saviour  expressly  forbids.  Yet  in  the  sense  of 
the  letter  we  are  informed  that  the  great  Being  cursed  the  ser- 
pent and  f/round,  things  that  Avere  agents  or  fabrics  of  the  Crea- 
tor himself.  Is  it  credible  or  rational  to  believe  that  the  Deity, 
like  a  heathen  god,  in  anger  cursed  his  OAvn  Avork  ?  Yet  Ave  are 
called  upon  to  receive  it  as  an  historical  fact  which  literally  occur- 


20  NECESSITY    OF   AN   INTERNAL   SENSE. 

red.  The  Creator,  we  well  know,  is  not  more  angry  than  an 
excellent  judge  upon  this  earth,  who  does  not  hate  or  curse,  but 
pities  the  offenders  whom,  for  the  good  of  the  Avhole,  he  is  ne- 
cessitated to  sentence. 

For  the  same  reason  that  it  is  affirmed  that  the  Deity  curses, 
is  vindictive  and  angry,  it  is  said  in  Gen.  chap.  vi.  4,  "  that  it  re- 
pented the  Lord  that  he  had  made  man  on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved 
him  at  his  heart;"  yet  notwithstanding  this  direct  and  plain  af- 
firmation, it  is  said  in  Numbers  xxiii.  19,  "  that  God  is  not  a  man 
that  he  should  repent ;"  and  again  in  Samuel  xv.  29,  "  For  he  is 
not  a  man  that  he  should  repent."  Here  we  perceive  a  direct 
contradiction ;  and  we  ask  if  there  is  any  one  who  beheves  that 
the  great  Creator  repented  ?  The  thing  is  utterly  impossible ; 
yet  this  is  the  reason  given  why  the  deluge  was  brought  upon 
the  earth.  From  this  it  is  plain  that  we  must  seek  for  some 
other  explanation  concerning  the  deluge  than  that  afforded  by 
the  mere  letter. 

That  some  of  the  ancient  prophets  were  taught  to  consider  the 
nan-ative  of  the  Fall  allegorical  and  figurative,  is  e^ndent  from  the 
following  passage :  "  Full  of  Wisdom,  thou  hast  been  in  Uden  the 
garden  of  God  :  every  precious  stone  was  thy  covering." — Ezek. 
XXX.  8.  Here  it  is  plainly  shown  that  the  Garden  of  Eden  does 
not  signify  any  garden,  but  intelligence  and  wisdom;  for  the 
King  of  Tyre,  of  whom  it  was  spoken,  is  knowTi  to  have  lived 
some  three  thousand  years,  according  to  the  common  chronology, 
after  Adam's  expulsion  from  Paradise,  and  had  never  been  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden  except  spiritually  or  mentally. 

The  same  obsen-ations  are  also  made  concerning  the  King  of 
Assp-ia,  Ezek.  xxxi.  3 — 8  :  "  Behold,  the  Assyrian  was  a  cedar 
(or  man)  in  Lebanon,  his  height  Avas  exalted  above  all  the  trees 
of  the  field.  The  cedars  in  the  garden  of  God  could  not  hide 
him,  nor  any  tree  in  the  garden  of  God  was  like  unto  him  in  his 
beauty.  All  the  trees  of  Eden  that  were  in  the  garden  of  God 
envied  him."  And  again  in  verse  18  :  "To  whom  hast  thou  be- 
come like  thus  in  glory  and  greatness  among  the  trees  of  Eden  ?" 
In  Isaiah,  chap.  li.  .3,  it  is  stated,  "  That  Jehovah  will  comfort 
Zion.  He  will  turn  her  desert  into  Eden,  and  her  wilderness  into 
the  garden  of  Jehovah."  It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  Zion  signifies 
the  Church,  Avhich  was  at  that  time  brought  from  a  state  of  dark- 


DIFFICULTIES    IN    VARIOUS    PASSAGES.  21 

ness  into  the  garden  of  God,  or  true  intelligence  and  wisdom. 
That  garden  has  an  internal  sense  is  also  apparent  in  other 
places,  as  in  Isaiah  Iviii.  Ixiii. ;  Jer.  xxxi.  12;  Amos  ix.  14;  Num- 
bers xxiv. 

That  tree  signifies  man  is  evident  from  the  following  pas- 
sages :  "  All  the  trees  of  the  field  shall  know  that  I,  Jehovah, 
humble  the  high  tree,  exalt  the  low  tree,  and  dry  the  green  tree, 
and  make  the  drj^  tree  flourish." — Ezek.  x\-ii.  24,  "  Blessed  is  he 
whose  delight  is  in  the  law ;  he  will  be  like  a  tree  planted  by 
rivers  of  waters,  Avhich  will  produce  its  fruit  in  its  season." — Ps.  i. 

I,  3;  Jer.  xxii.  8.  "Praise  Jehovah,  ye  trees  of  fruit." — Ps. 
cxlviii.  9  ;  "The  trees  of  Jehovah  are  filled  full." — Ps.  civ.  16. 
"  The  axe  heth  at  the  root  of  the  tree ;  every  tree  not  producing 
good  fruit  shall  be  cut  down." — Matt.  iii.  10;  A-ii.  16  to  21. 
"  Either  make  the  tree  good,  and  the  fruit  good,  or  make  the 
tree  conxipt,  and  liis  fruit  coirupt ;  for  the  tree  is  known  from 
his  fruit."' — Matt.  xii.  33  ;  Luke  vi.  43,  44.  "  I  will  kindle  a  fire 
•which  shall  devour  eveiy  green  tree  and  every  dry  tree." — Ezek. 
XX.  47.  That  tree  signifies  man,  is  also  evident  from  numer- 
ous other  places,  as  in  Lev.  xix.  23,  24  ;  Rev.  xi.  4  ;  Zech.  iv.  3, 

II,  12 ;  Ps.  Iii.  8,  and  in  Jer.  xi.  16,  17. 

The  testimony  of  the  apostles  can  be  adduced  to  prove  that 
there  is  an  internal  sense  to  the  words  of  Scripture  :  thus  Paul,  in 
his  second  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  informs  us  that  "it  is  not  of 
the  letter,  but  of  the  spirit ;  for  the  letter  killeth,  hut  the  spirit 
giveth  life.''' — (iii.  5,  6.)  It  is  known  to  all  who  are  familiar  with 
the  New  Testament,  that  the  Lord  continually  taught  by  para- 
bles. In  Matthew  xiii.  it  is  said :  "  All  these  things  spake  Jesus 
unto  the  mitltitude  in  parables,  and  without  a  parable  spake  he  not 
unto  them."  The  same  thing  is  also  affirmed  in  Mark  iv.  33,  34 : 
"  And  with  many  such  parables  spake  he  the  Word  unto  them, 
as  they  Avere  able  to  hear  it.  But  without  a  parable  spake  he 
not  unto  them  ;  and  when  they  w  ere  alone  he  expounded  all 
tilings  unto  his  disciples." 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  can  be  seen  that  not  only  are 
many  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  written  in  a  figm-ative  and  alle- 
gorical language,  but  also  that  those  parts  Avhich  have  been  con- 
sidered as  historical,  and  giving  a  true  account  of  the  Creation 
and  the  Fall,  are  to  be  viewed  in  the  same  hght.     It  is  also  ap- 


22  NECESSITY    OF    AN    INTERNAL   SENSE. 

parent,  that,  hidden  in  this  figurative  language,  lies  concealed  an 
inner  sense  which  conveys  the  real  truth,  Avhich,  as  an  eminent 
apostle  says,  "  the  natural  man  discerneth  not."  Such  must  be 
the  case,  or  we  must  believe  it  is  without  sense  or  meaning,  and 
what  is  made  known  to  us  by  geology  and  astronomy  is  false ; 
and  believe  that  it  is  literally  true  that  the  sun,  like  a  strong 
man,  runs  a  race ;  and  that  it  is  an  historical  fact,  that  God  re- 
pented he  had  made  man  on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at 
heart ;  and  which  as  it  cannot  be,  goes  iiTesistibly  to  establish 
the  point  from  which  we  commenced,  and  that  vnih  Paul  we 
must  believe  that  the  letter  killeth,  and  that  it  is  the  spirit  or 
inner  sense  which  gives  life  and  tnith. 


SECTIO]Sr  III. 


NECESSITY  OF  DISCOVERING  A  KEY  TO  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

We  will  now,  for  the  piu-pose  of  exhibiting  the  urgent  necessity 
of  discovering  a  keij  to  the  Scriptures,  examine  a  few  passages 
taken  from  the  wTi tings  of  the  apostles. 

Fu-st.  In  John,  chap.  xii.  40,  it  is  Avritten  that  "he  hath 
blinded  their  eyes  and  hardened  their  Jteart  ;  that  they  should  not 
see  with  their  eyes  nor  understand  witk  their  heart,  and  he  con- 
verted and  saved."  The  same  can  also  be  found  in  Matthew  xiii. 
14,  Mark  12,  Luke  viii.  10,  and  in  Isaiah  vi.  10. 

Here,  in  the  most  plain  and  unequivocal  language,  it  is  stated 
by  all  the  apostles,  that  the  Lord  had  blinded  the  eyes  of  the  Jews 
and  hardened  their  hearts  in  such  a  manner  that  they  could  not 
be  converted  and  saved.  From  this  it  would  appear  that  a  most 
gross  injustice  had  been  done  to  the  Jews.  As  we  know  that 
this  cannot  be,  of  what  use  is  the  passage  ?  Had  it  reference  to 
the  Jewish  nation  alone  ?  That  it  had  not  is  known  from  the 
fact  that  all  unconverted  people  are  classed  under  the  name  of 
Jews  or  unbelievers.  We  see  upon  every  side  many  whose 
minds  resemble  and  whose  principles  are  similar  to  those  held 
by  the  Jews  at  that  time.  We  hear  our  SaAaour  exhorting  liis 
disciples  to  "  beware  of  the  Scribes,  which  desire  to  walk  in  long 
robes,  and  love  gTeetings  in  the  markets."  These  remarks  are 
by  all  commentators  apphed  to  ambitious  and  worldly-mmded 
clergymen,  and  not  to  Jewish  priests  alone.  From  this  it  can  be 
seen,  that  there  are  many  whose  eyes  and  understanding  are 
blinded  in  the  same  manner  as  were  the  Jews.  And  why  is 
tliis  ?     The   oreat    Creator    does    not    act    without    a   sufficient 


.24  KitOESSITY    OF    A    KEY    TO    THE    SCEIPTUKKS. 

reason  :  3-et  having  no  key,  we  know  nothing  concerning  the  pas 
sage,  and  know  not  why  so  many  of  oiir  acquaintance  are 
Winded, — why  this  apparent  gross  injustice  is  done  them,  and 
why  one  should  be  brought  to  beUeve  more  than  another.  It 
is  cei-tainly  rational  to  suppose  that  if  the  reason  was  known  why 
they  were  blinded,  and  it  was  discovered  to  be  founded  upon 
con-ect  and  just  principles,  we  should  be  much  more  able  to  ex- 
plain the  mysteiy,  and  benefit  the  cause  of  "Christianity.  As  it  is, 
we  can  now  merely  say  that  the  Deity  chooses  one  and  does  not 
another ;  and  can  give  no  reason  for  this  seeming  partiality. 

In  Matthew  xxii.  32,  we  find  the  following  most  solemn  and 
impressive  language :  "  Wherefore  I  say  unto  you,  all  manner  of 
sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto  men,  but  the  blasphemy 
against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto  men;  and  who- 
soever speaketh  a  w^ord  against  the  Son  of  Man  it  shall  be  for- 
given ;  but  whosoever  speaketh  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall 
not  be  forgiven  him,  neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to 
come." 

Here  we  are  informed  that  there  is  a  siii  which,  if  committed, 
is  never  forgiven ;  and  as  yet  no  commentator  has  been  able  to 
find  out  what  it  is.  There  are  on  record  instances  of  persons 
who,  brought  up  in  the  belief  that  the  great  Being  was  far  more 
a  God  of  wrath  and  vengeance  than  one  of  love,  and  knowinfj 
that  the  passage  had  not  been  explained  and  pointed  out,  have 
beheved  and  imagined  that  they  unknowingly  had  committed  the 
unpardonable  sin  ;  that  there  was  no  hope  for  them  ;  and  under 
the  influence  of  such  a  belief  have  too  frequently  become  maniacs, 
and  ended  their  days  in  a  mad-house. 

In  all  civilized  countries  we  know  that  if  we  commit  a  theft, 
the  penalty  is  an  imprisonment ;  that  if  it  is  mui-der,  the  perpe- 
trator shall  expiate  the  crime  upon  the  scaffold  :  but  here  we  are 
cautioned  against  committing  a  crime  or  sin-  which  is  unpardona- 
ble, and  can  never  be  forgiven,  and  yet  it  is  not  pointed  out  what 
it  is !  If  a  lawgiver  should  enact  such  a  laAv  he  would  be  con- 
.sidered  guilty  of  the  most  gross  injustice  ;  yet,  notwithstanding, 
if  w'e  receive  as  trath  and  as  the  Word  of  God  any  part  of  the 
New  Testament,  w^e  must  beheve  that  there  is  such  a  sin  as  the 
impardonable  one,  and  that  it  is  possible  to  commit  it.  There  is 
no  passage  in  the  Scriptur<?s  written  more  plainly,  or  more  often 


BLASPHEMY    AGAINST   THE    HOLY    GHOST.  25 

repeated.  JLt  is  also  evident  that  it  was  not  written  for  the  Jews 
alone,  but  chiefly  for  the  present  generation.  If  we  affirm  that 
it  was,  we  may  with  like  consistency  assert  the  same  of  any  pas- 
sage or  divine  command  in  the  Scriptures  ;  and  even  that  there  is 
no  place  of  future  retribution.  It  is  in  accordance  with  reason  to 
suppose  that  there  is  such  a  sin,  for  Ave  Icnow  that  in  this  world 
there  are  crimes  that  are  considered  of  far  greater  enoiToity  than 
others.  It  is  also  evident  that  it  is  a  sin  which  has  reference  to 
those  who  are  partakers  of  the  sacrament. 

In  the  passage  quoted  it  is  said  thart  if  the  sin  is  committed 
it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him,  neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the 
world  to  come.  From  this  it  would  appear  that  there  are  some 
sins  that  are  forgiven  in  the  other  world,  and  that  now  is  not  the 
only  day  of  grace.  This  belief  is  contradicted  in  other  parts  of 
the  Holy  Oracles ;  and  we  are  informed  that  "  ivhen  the  night 
Cometh  no  man  can  work."  (John  ix.  4.)  From  this  it  is  plainly 
evident,  that  with  the  ordinary  means  of  interpretation  we  know 
little  concerning  important  passages,  and  the  mind  is  continually 
left  in  doubt  and  uncertainty. 

That  this  is  the  case  is  also  shown  from  the  following,  taken 
from  Matthew  xix.  16:  "And  behold  one  came,  and  said  unto 
him.  Good  Master,  what  good  thing  shall  I  do  that  I  may  have 
eternal  life  ?  and  he  said  imto  him.  Why  callest  thou  me  good  ? 
there  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is  God :  but  if  thou  wilt  enter 
into  life,  keep  the  commandments.  He  saith  unto  him,  Which  ? 
Jesus  said,  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder.  Tliou  shalt  not  commit 
adultery.  Thou  shalt  not  steal ;  thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself.  The  young  man  said  unto  him,  All  these  things  have  I 
kept  from  my  youth  up  ;  what  lack  I  yet  ?  Jesus  said  unto  him. 
If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to 
the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasvu-e  in  heaven ;  and  come  and 
follow  me.  But  when  the  young  man  heard  that  saying,  he 
went  away  soiTOwful ;  for  he  had  great  possessions.  Then  said 
Jesus  unto  his  disciples.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  That  a  rich  man 
shall  hardly  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  again  I  say 
unto  you.  It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a 
needle  than  for  a  lich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God, 
When  his  disciples  heard  it  they  Avere  exceedingly  amazed,  say 
ing,  Who  then  can  be  saved  ?" 


26  NECESSITY  OF  A  KEY   TO    THE    SCKIPTURES. 

Here  it  is  apparently  taught,  that  not  only  if  we  keep  all  the 
commandments,  and  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves,  we  cannot  be 
sure  of  salvation,  but  also  that  it  is  next  to  an  impossibility  for  a 
wealthy  person  to  be  saved.  It  also  is  not  definitely  stated 
whether  the  yoimg  ruler  would  be  saved  or  not.  President 
D wight  gives  ixs  to  understand,  that,  without  a  change  he  was 
not,  and  remarks  that  the  Lord  loved  him  with  what  is  called 
natural  affection,  but  not  with  complacency,  "for  he  was  not  a 
Christian."  From  such  passages  rrany  excellent  persons,  whose 
moral  conduct  would  put  to  shame  many  members  of  the  church, 
have  believed  that  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  undei-stand  the 
Scriptures.  Hei'e  it  is  also  sho^\^l  that  if  we  had  a  key  to  the 
Holy  Oracles,  and  knew,  and  in  a  rational  manner,  what  one 
should  do  to  expect  futiu'e  happiness,  that  the  interest  of  religion 
would  be  gi-eatly  benefited,  and  many  Avould  be  brought  to  ex- 
amine the  sacred  writings  who  now,  m  vieAV  of  its  mysteries, 
give  up  the  attempt  in  despau-. 

Tlie  mystery  concerning  the  Trinity  is  so  great,  that  many  have 
no  definite  idea  on  the  subject;  and  leave  the  matter,  believino- 
it  to  be  a  mystery  impenetrable.  Others  have  asserted  and 
maintained  that  the  Saviour  was  a  distinct  being  from  th£  Father, 
and  refen-ed  to  the  Word  as  proof  of  their  assertions.  On  this 
side  of  the  question  we  see  the  names  of  Milton,  Clarke,  and 
Channing,  and  on  the  other  those  of  Bacon,  Edwards,  and  Dwight. 
The  unbiased  obsei-ver  knows  not  which  opinion  to  receive ;  and  as 
the  Bible,  as  it  is,  gives  no  explanation  of  the  enigma,  he  prefers 
not  to  join  either  party,  and  adopts  no  opinion  ;  yet  he  reads  that 
it  is  necessary  to  have  a  belief,  but  hoAv  to  get  a  right  one  seems 
a  thing  impossible. 

The  difficulties  of  comprehending  the  Atonement  are  as  intri- 
cate as  those  of  the  Trinity,  and  it  may  be  asked,  as  has  been 
done,  Wotdd  it  not  be  more  honorable  to  the  great  Creator,  or  at 
least  equally  honorable,  to  forgive  the  penitent  without  an  Atone- 
ment ?  Whence  is  it  that  suffering  or  punishment  becomes  neces- 
sary to  the  establishment  of  his  glory  in  the  government  of  the 
universe  ?  It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  with  our  present  limited 
means  of  information,  and  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures,  the  theo- 
logian is  utterly  unable  to  answer  the  question  ;  and  it  is  told  the 
Christian  that  he  believes  he  knows  not  what. 


PKEDES'rXNA'nON   AND   ELECTnON.  27 

In  Romans  xi.  4,  5,  the  cruel  doctrine  of  predestination  or 
election  is  seemingly  taught.  "  But  what  saith  the  answer  of  God 
unto  him,  I  have  reserved  to  myself  seven  thousand  men  who 
have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  the  image  of  Baal :  even  so  at  the 
present  time  there  is  a  remnant  according  to  the  election  of  grace. 
And  if  by  grace,  then  is  it  no  more  of  works :  otherwise  grace 
is  no  more  grace.  But  if  it  be  of  works,  then  is  it  no  more 
grace :  otherwise  work  is  no  more  work.  What  then  ?  Israel 
hath  not  obtained  that  wliich  he  seeketh  for ;  hut  the  election  hath 
obtained  it,  and  the  rest  ivere  blinded." 

Paul,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  speaking  of  predestina- 
tion, says,  that  "  according  as  he  hath  chosen  us  in  him  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  that  we  should  be  holy  and  without 
blame  before  liim  in  love :  having  predestinated  us  unto  the 
adoption  of  children  by  Jesus  Christ  to  himself,  according  to  the 
good  pleasure  of  his  Avill."* 

From  these  passages  Calvin  gathered  his  belief.  The  promi- 
nent featm-e  of  Calvinism  is  the  election  of  some  and  the  repro- 
bation of  others  from  all  eternity  ;  and  this  without  the  individual 
having  aught  to  say  concerning  the  matter,  he  being  but  a  passive 
instrument  in  the  hands  of  his  Creator.  Dr.  Doddridge  on  this 
subject  has  this  striking  remark :  "  That  a  Being  who  is  said  not 
to  tempt  any  one,  and  even  swears  that  he  desires  not  the  death 
of  a  sinner,  should  irresistibly  detez-mine  millions  to  the  commis- 
sion of  every  smful  action  of  then-  lives,  and  then  with  all  th^ 
pomp  and  pageantiy  of  a  universal  judgment,  condemn  them  to 
eternal  misery  on  account  of  those  actions,  that  hereby  he  may 
promote  the  happiness  of  others  who  are  or  shall  be  irresistibly 
determined  to  \iitue  in  the  like  manner,  is  of  all  mcredible  things 
to  me  the  most  incredible." 

Notwithstanding  the  affirmation  of  Doddridge,  and  the  great 
injustice  of  the  matter,  the  doctrine  of  election  and  predestination 
is  certainly  apparently  taught ;  if  it  was  not,  we  should  not  see 
so  many  able  writers  upholding  and  ingeniously  supporting  the 
belief.  Now,  as  usual,  the  whole  is  contradicted  and  denied  in 
other  parts  of  the  Scriptures,  particularly  by  James,  who  in 
terms  assei-ts  that  works  are  necessary  for  salvation,  and  that 

»  Eph.  i.  4,  5. 


'2S  NECESSITY   OF  A    KEY    TO   THE   SCRIPTrEES. 

without  them  faith  is  dead.  "  What  doth  it  profit,  my  brethren, 
though  a  man  say  he  hath  faith  and  have  not  works  ?  Can  faith 
save  him  ?  If  a  brother  or  sister  be  naked  and  destitute  of  daily 
food,  and  one  of  you  say  unto  them,  Depart  in  peace ;  be  ye 
warmed  and  filled,  notwithstanding  ye  give  them  not  those  things 
which  are  needful  to  the  body,  what  doth  it  profit  ?  Even  so 
faith,  if  it  hath  not  works,  is  dead,  being  alone.  Yea,  a  man  may 
say,  Thou  hast  faith  and  I  have  works :  show  me  thy  faith  with- 
out thy  works,  and  I  will  show  thee  my  faith  by  my  works. 
But  wilt  thou  know,  0  vain  man,  that  faith  without  works  is 
dead  ?  Was  not  Abraham  justified  by  works  when  he  had  offered 
Isaac  upon  the  altar?"  (Matt.  vi.  16-18,  also  in  John.) 

In  Ezekiel  xxxiii.  11,  it  is  waitten:  "As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord 
God,  I  have  no  -pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked,  but  that  the 
wicked  turn  from  his  ways  and  live.'"  "Let  no  man  say  when 
he  is  tempted,  I  am  tempted  of  God  ;  for  God  cannot  be  tempted 
with  e^il,  neither  tempteth  he  any  man." — James  i.  13. 

From  the  above  it  can  be  seen  that  the  great  Creator  neither 
wills,  predestinates  to  miseiy,  tempts  or  blinds  the  understanding  ; 
and  that  the  opponents  of  Calvinism,  the  Arminians,  have  at 
least  justice  on  their  side.  The  Arminians  also  found  their  sen- 
timents on  the  expressions  of  the  Sanour ;  especially  on  his 
prayer  over  Jerusalem,  his  sermon  on  the  Mount,  and,  above  all, 
on  his  delmeation  of  the  process  of  the  last  day,  when  the  salva- 
tion of  man  is  not  said  to  have  been  procured  by  any  decree,  but 
because  they  had  done  the  will  of  their  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

The  Calvinist  claims,  as  defenders  of  his  system,  Bacon,  Hale, 
Boerhaave,  Edwards,  and  Dwight.  The  Arminian,  on  the  other 
hand,  Milton,  Newton,  Locke,  Clarke,  and  Boyle.  When  the 
names  of  so  many  eminent  men,  and  of  acknowledged  talents  and 
genius,  are  found  arrayed  agamst  each  other,  and  often  constru- 
ing the  laws  of  the  great  Statute  Book  so  as  to  make  it  appear 
that  the  Ai-minian  is  no  better  than  a  Deist,  we  may  well  believe 
that  little  is  known  concerning  the  Scriptures,  or  the  true  manner 
of  interpreting  them. 

In  Romans  ix.  20,  it  seems  to  be  taught  that  we  must  not  ex- 
ercise our  rational  faculties  in  examining  and  studying  the  laws 
and  constitution  by  which  the  great  Creator  governs,  and  for  the 
disobedience  of  which  we  are  to  suffer :  and  it  is  said,  "'  Nay,  O 


OBSCUKITIES    IN    THE    APOCALYPSE.  29 

man,  who  art  thou  that  repliest  against  God  ?  Shall  the  thing 
formed  say  to  him  that  fonned  it,  Wlaj  hast  thou  made  me  thus  ? 
Hath  not  the  potter  power  over  the  clay  of  the  same  lump  to 
make  one  vessel  unto  honor  and  another  unto  dishonor  ?  What 
if  God,  willing  to  show  his  wrath  and  to  make  his  power  known, 
endured  with  much  long-suffering  the  vessels  of  wrath  (or  his 
children)  fitted  to  destruction,  and  that  he  might  make  known 
the  riches  of  his  gloiy  on  the  vessels  of  mercy,  which  he  had 
afore  prepared  for  his  glory."  Here  again  Cahinism  is  taught, 
and  we  are  infonned  the  great  Being  exalts  one  that  the  other 
may  suffer.  Kow  this  statement  of  Paul's  is  totally  contradicted 
throughout  the  Scriptures,  and  an  earnest  appeal  is  constantly 
made  to  the  understanding  and  judgment  of  man,  as  in  the  fol- 
lowing solemn  and  most  affectionate  language  :  "Oh  !  inhabitants 
of  Jerusalem  and  men  of  Judah,  judge,  I  pray  you,  between  me 
and  my  vineyard.  What  could  I  have  done  to  my  vineyard  that 
I  have  not  done  ?"  "  Come,  let  us  rea.son  together  :  though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet  they  shall  be  white  as  wool."  And  in  Mat- 
thew the  Saviour  says :  "  0  Jeiiisalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  kill- 
est  the  prophets,  and  stonest  them  wliich  are  sent  unto  thee,  hoAV 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a 
hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  Avings,  and  ye  would 
not !" 

From  these  quotations  we  are  taught  that  not  only  are  we  re- 
quired to  exercise  our  reason,  and  judge  concerning  the  attri- 
butes of  the  Deity,  but  are  infonned  that,  if  possible,  all  would 
have  been  gathered  under  the  divine  protection  and  saved. 

The  necessity  of  a  key  to  the  Scriptures  is  still  more  indicated 
in  the  Book  of  Revelation,  and  a  mere  mention  of  the  wondrous 
visions  there  portrayed,  of  the  dragon  with  seven  heads,  of  the 
woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  of  the  monsters  with  heads  like 
lions,  and  tails  of  serpents,  and  which  breathed  fire  and  brim- 
stone, is  sufficient  to  indicate  its  character.  Commentators  have 
attempted  to  interpret  its  extraordinary  symbols,  yet  with  little 
success  or  agreement,  and  it  would  appear  that  in  its  present 
state  of  obscurity  it  was  far  from  benefiting  mankind. 

If  Ave  turn  to  the  Old  Testament  to  illustrate  our  subject,  how 
much  can  be  found !  How  many  passages  even  seemingly  as 
useless  and  irrational  as  many  parts  of  the  Koran !     Take,  for 


30  NECESSITY    OF   A  KEY    TO   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

instance,  the  passage  of  which  we  have  before  spoken,  and  in 
which  it  is  said  the  birds  and  beasts  were  in>4ted  to  a  great  feast 
which  was  composed  of  horses,  and  chariots,  and  mighty  men  of 
war !  Again,  what  can  be  said  of  the  chapter  which  describes 
the  appearance  of  the  four  living  creatures  that  had  wings,  the 
face  of  a  man,  of  a  Hon,  of  an  ox,  and  of  an  eagle,  joined  with  the 
feet  of  a  calf  ?  Also,  why  was  Isaiah  the  prophet  commanded  to 
loose  the  sackcloth  from  off  his  loins,  the  shoes  from  his  feet,  and 
go  naked  and  barefoot  three  years ;  or  why  Avas  Ezekiel  com- 
manded to  he  upon  his  left  side  three  hundred  and  ninety  days, 
and  to  make  himself  a  cake  of  wheat  and  barley,  and  fitches  with 
cow's  dung,  and  eat  it  ? 

Such  narrations  appear  altogether  as  iiTational  and  xmworthy 
of  the  divine  impress,  yet  they  undoubtedly  convey  a  meaning,  if 
it  covdd  be  discovered  ;  for  we  ai-e  told  that  "  all  Scripture  is  given 
by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof, 
for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness." 

If  we  proceed  further  in  our  inquiries,  it  will  be  found  that 
there  are  statements  and  narrations  which  seemingly  are  wholly 
opposite  to  what  is  known  to  compose  the  character  of  good  men, 
and  fonn  the  attributes  of  the  Deity.  Thus  what  can  be  said  in 
respect  to  the  conduct  of  Jacob,  who  defrauded  Esau  of  his 
birthright  ?  If  a  like  event  should  occuf  at  the  present  day,  the 
author  would  be  made  to  feel  the  weight  of  the  laws,  yet  Ave  hear 
nothing  concerning  it ;  and  not  even  is  it  intimated  that  Jacob  had 
done  any  thing  Avrong.  Again,  in  regard  to  the  behavior  of  Jael 
(who  in  the  most  brutal  manner  stabbed  Sisera,  after  he  had 
trusted  to  eastern  hospitality,  and  accepted  the  invitation  to  re- 
pose in  her  tent),  so  far  from  the  treacherous  conduct  being  no- 
ticed, it  is  passed  by  in  silence ;  and  it  is  said,  "  Blessed  above 
wonien  shall  Jael  the  wife  of  Heber  the  Kenite  be."  In  these 
cases  it  appears  as  if  God  approved  of  the  conduct  of  Jacob  and 
Jael :  yet  it  could  not  be  ;  for  we  know  that  the  eternal  principles 
by  which  the  Deity  rules  ever  were  the  same,  and  that  in  no 
case,  or  any  period,  did  he  in  reality  approve  of  a  treacherous 
action.  Yet  the  narration,  and  many  others  of  the  same  nature, 
are  before  us,  and  concernmg.  which  the  Christian  is  wholly  un- 
enlightened, and  has  no  means  either  to  answer  the  infidel  or 
satisfy  his  OAvn  mind. 


OPINION    OF   BISHOP   MARSH. 


31 


We  might  go  on  ^vith  our  examination,  but  it  is  unnecessary, 
sufficient  having  been  said ;  and  we  think  it  has  been  fairly  shown, 
if  any  thing  is  capable  of  proof,  that  there  is  a  strong  and  urgent 
necessity  for  mankind  to  have  given  to  them  a  key,  and  a  fixed 
and  permanent  method  of  interpreting  the  seeming  impenetrable 
mysteries  of  the  Scriptures  ;  if  otherAvise,  the  inference  is,  and  it 
can  be  no  other,  that  coming  generations  must  hide  the  conse- 
quences. 

That  our  observations  in  reference  to  flie  mterpretation  of  the 
Holy  Oracles  are  not  Avithout  foundation,  we  will  adduce  the 
opinions  of  eminent  writers  concerning  the  subject. 

"If,"  says  Bishop  Marsh  in  his  Lectures,  "the  interpreta- 
tions of  the  Scriptures  were  easy  and  obvious,  there  would  be 
little  or  no  diversity  in  the  explanations  which  different  commen- 
tators have  given  of  the  same  passage.  But  if  we  compare  the 
Greek  with  the  Latin  commentators,  we  shall  find  such  a  variety 
of  interpretation  as  would  appear  almost  impossible  to  be  ex- 
tracted from  the  same  text.  If  we  compare  the  Jewish  commen- 
tators either  with  the  Greek  or  with  the  Latin,  we  shall  find  as 
great  a  variety,  though  a  variety  of  a  different  kuid.  If  we  com- 
pare our  English  commentators  with  any  of  the  preceding,  we 
shall  find  no  diminution  in  the  variety  of  interpretation.  Nor  do 
we  find  uniformity  among  commentators  of  the  same  language, 
or  even  among  commentators  of  the  same  church.  It  is  true 
that  in  all  things  relating  to  doctrine  and  disciphne,  the  Church 
of  Rome  preserved,  during  several  ages,  a  uniformity  of  inter- 
pretation by  the  commentary  which  was  called  the  Glossa  Ordi- 
naria.  But  when  the  revival  of  learning  had  opened  new  sources 
of  unfettered  exposition,  the  Glossa  Ordinaria  was  exchanged  for 
new  systems  of  interpretation  from  Luther  and  Melancthon,  from 
Calvin  and  Beza,  from  Grotius  and  Spanheim." — {Led.  on  Interp. 
of  Sac.  Scrip.,  p.  271.) 

Again,  this  learned  wTiter  says :  "  There  is  not  the  slightest 
historical  evidence  that  the  apostles  transmitted  to  posterity  any 
rule  but  what  is  recorded  in  the  New  Testament.  The  Fathei-s, 
therefore,  are  on  precisely  the  same  footing  with  respect  to  the 
authority  of  their  interpretations,  as  the  commentators  of  the 
present  age.  Nor,  in  fact,  are  they  uniform  in  their  interpreta- 
tions, even  in  regard  to  doctrine,  notwithstanding  the  agreement 


32  JSECESSITY   OF   A    KEY' TO   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

alleged  by  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  the  same  commentators  may  be 
selected,  both  ancient  and  modern,  who  agree  on  particular 
Tpomts."— {Ibid.  p.  274.) 

We  find  in  Clarke's  Commentaries  an  illustration  of  Bishop 
Marsh's  observations.  The  remarks  are  in  reference  to  the  nu- 
merous opinions  yet  held  in  regard  to  the  particular  site  of  the 
garden  of  Eden.  "It  Avould,"  says  Dr.  Clarke,  "astonish  an 
ordinary  reader  who  should  be  obliged  to  consult  different  com- 
mentators and  critics  on  the  situation  of  the  terrestrial  paradise, 
to  see  the  vast  variety  of  opinions  by  which  they  are  divided. 
Some  place  it  in  the  third  heaven ;  others  in  the  moon  itself ; 
some  in  the  middle  regions  of  the  air,  or  beyond  the  earth's  at- 
traction ;  some  in  the  earth  ;  others  under  the  earth  ;  some  have 
fixed  it  at  the  north  pole,  others  at  the  south ;  some  in  Tartary ; 
some  in  China ;  some  on  the  borders  of  the  Ganges  ;  some  in  the 
island  of  Ceylon ;  some  m  Amienia ;  others  in  Syria,  Pei-sia, 
Arabia,  Babylon,  Assyria,  or  Palestine  ;  some  have  condescended 
to  place  it  in  Europe,  and  others  have  contended  that  it  either 
exists  not,  or  is  invisible,  or  is  merely  of  a  spiritual  nature,  and 
that  the  whole  account  is  to  be  spiritually  understood." — [Clarke's 
Com.,  Gen.  chap,  ii.) 

In  regard  to  the  interpretation  of  the  opening  of  "  the  six  seals," 
in  Revelation  chap,  vi.,  Ave  find  the  following :  the  writer's  re 
marks  are  in  reference  to  the  diversity  of  explanation.  He  says 
that  "  the  general  opinion  among  commentators  has  been  and  is, 
that  this  prophecy  has  received  its  fulfilment ;  but  there  are 
those  who  maintain  that  it  is  yet  unfulfilled.  One  class  of  ex- 
positors say,  that  the  judgments  mentioned  in  the  seals  fell  upon 
the  Jewish  people,  and  were  accomphshed  in  the  destruction  of 
their  city  and  temple.  Another  class  suppose  the  opening  of  the 
seals  to  be  the  judgments  upon  the  Pagan  Roman  empire — to  be 
prophecies  of  the  conflict  between  Christianity  and  Paganism, 
which  ended  in  the  establishment  of  the  former  under  the  Empe- 
ror Constantine,  to  which  result  they  conceive  the  sixth  seal  ap- 
plies. Among  the  writers  who  support  this  view,  are  Bishop 
Newton,  Mede,  Lowman,  Doddridge,  Holmes,  Hale,  and  others 
of  less  note.  And  even  these  are  not  agreed  as  to  particular 
events  in  the  history  of  the  Pagan  Roman  empire,  intended  by 
the  several  seals.     One  expositor  will  tell  you  of  a  particular 


OPINION    OF    PROFESSOR   THOLUCK.  33 

Roman  emperor  as  designed  by  one  seal,  whom  another  supposes 
to  be  designed  by  the  following  or  the  preceding  seal.  Mr.  Fa- 
ber  agrees  with  the  writers  just  mentioned,  as  to  the  period  and 
event  with  which  the  seals  terminate,  but  has  a  view  pecuharly 
his  own  with  respect  to  the  first  four  seals.  Mr.  Irving,  who  has 
written  at  great  length  upon,  the  Apocalypse,  supposes  these 
seals  to  commence  with  the  very  event  with  which  the  Avriters 
just  mentioned  suppose  them  to  end,  viz.,  the  establishment  of 
Christianity  under  Constantine.  He,  therefore,  makes  them  refer 
to  an  entirely  different  order  of  events. 

"Another  class  of  expositors — Mr.  Cunningham  and  Archdeacon 
Woodhouse  among  them — suppose  these  seals  to  be  altogether 
spiritual,  or  rather  ecclesiastical ;  and  the  events  which  they  think 
denoted  by  them  are — first,  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  from  the 
time  of  its  announcement ;  second,  the  dissensions  which  arose  in 
the  church  in  the  fourth  century  between  the  Arians  and  Dona- 
tists ;  third,  the  dark  ages  of  the  Papacy ;  fourth,  the  estabUsh- 
ment  of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  persecutions  of  the  Albigenses 
and  Waldenses ;  fifth,  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation ;  sixth,  the 
French  Revolution,  including,  however,  certain  other  events  yet 
to  be  accomplished.  The  learned  Dr.  Keith  agrees  in  some 
points  with  this  class  of  commentators,  but  thinks  the  second  seal 
refers  to  Mahometanism,  the  fourth  to  infidehty,  the  fifth  to  the 
persecution  which  is  to  follow-,  and  the  sixth  to  the  last  great 
catastrophe  which  shall  decide  the  fate  of  the  world  and  the  tri- 
umph of  the  church." 

Mr.  Birks,  an  English  commentator,  in  his  Elements  of  Proph- 
ecy, says  with  reference  to  the  Apocalypse  :  "  The  present  state 
of  Apocalyptic  interpretation,  is  one  among  many  features  in  the 
actual  condition  of  the  church,  which  should  lead  the  Christian 
to  humiliation  and  sorrow.  That  holy  prophecy,  which  was  given 
for  the  guidance  of  believers  to  the  end  of  time,  with  such  a  pe- 
culiar solemnity  and  so  repeated  a  blessing,  still  remains  to  most 
Christians,  a  watch-word  of  silent  contempt,  a  signal  for  contro- 
versy, or  a  field  for  conjectiire.  Few,  comparatively,  seem  to  have 
gained  for  themselves  an  assured  conviction  even  on  the  main  out- 
lines of  its  meaning^ — (See  ClissoWs  Apoc.  Int.,  Vol.  II.  p.  316.) 

Prof.  Tholuck,  of  the  University  of  Halle,  in  Germany,  gives 
the  foUoAving  testimony  in  reference  to  the  difficulty  of  interpret- 

3 


3-1  NKCKSSll  Y    Ol''    A     KKV     To     I'MK    SCIMITl'KKS. 

ing  the  Soiiptuics.  The  extract  is  taken  from  the  Bib.  Repos. 
for  Oct.,  ^8■.VS,  pp.  ()84,  085. 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  cxpei-ieiu-c,"  says  this  learned  author,  "  tliat 
there  is  no  greater  source  of  disquiet  to  the  young  theological 
student,  than  the  endless  variety  of  opinions  in  respect  to  the 
doctrines  of  faith  and  tiie  interpretation  of  Scripture  which  are 
presented  lo  him  in  the  history  of  the  churcli  and  in  the  course 
of  exegetical  lectures.  Kven  laynen,  wiicn  aware  of  the  want  of 
accord  among  theologians  in  this  latter  respect,  are  often  not  a 
little  disturbed  ;  and  it  has  been  a  ca.sc  of  actual  occurrence,  that 
one  and  another  have  been  ready  to  take  refuge  from  this  disquie- 
tude in  the  Pop(%  Avhere,  as  they  suppose,  the  solution  of  all 
dilHculties  is  to  be  found.  They  know  not,  or  do  not  rein«'mber 
the  discrepancies  of  Catholic  interpreters,  not  merely  with  one 
anotlier,  but  even  with  themselves;  how  Augustine,  for  instance, 
in  four  different  passages  of  his  works,  has  given  four  different 
expositions  of  one  text,  while  no  Pope  has  ever  yet  decided 
wliich  is  tlie  correct  one. 

"  But  who  is  there  who  would  not  at  the  first  glance  be  justly 
disquieted,  and  even  despair  of  any  certain  way  to  the  understand- 
ing of  the  Scriptures,  when  in  a  single  passage  not  less  thon  two 
hundred  ami  fortii-lhrce  expositions  are  placed  before  us,  as  is 
done  by  Weigand  in  his  work  on  (lal.  iii.  20?  To  these  the  au- 
thor sul)joins  tiie  two  hundred  and  forty-fourth,  which  als(»  has 
since  been  eclips(!d  by  lat(jr  attempts.  It  were  well  worth  while 
thoroughly  to  weigh  the  causes  of  so  enormous  a  discrepancy  of 
opinion  in  tin;  interpretation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures — a  discrep- 
ancy of  which  the  whole  range  of  classic  literature  nowhen; 
nflords  so  portentous  an  example." 

From  these  extracts,  and  we  might  give  many  others,  it  can  b(! 
seen  that  at  the  present  time  there  is  not  only  no  determined 
method  of  explaining  the  Holy  Oracles,  but  that,  taken  literally,  a 
skilful  commentatoi-  can  make  them  aflirm  any  thing  he  j)leases 
and  that  is  needful. 


SECTION    IV 


CONSEQUENCES  RKSUI.TINC!  TO  THE  CIIKISTIAN  RELIGION  FROM  THE 
WANT  OF  A  KKV,  ANU  OK  A  FIXED  AND  PERMANENT  METHOD  OP 
INTFRPRETINt;  TIIIC  SCKHTLKES. 

In  tilt'  picccdiiiir  Section  it  lias  l)<'<'n  intimated  that  the  Chris- 
tian rclitfion  is  i^n-atly  siiHciintr  from  tlic  want  of  a  koy  and 
iixcd  and  jx-rmancnt  method  of  interpietinfr  the  Scriptures  ;  and 
as  the  suhjeet  is  of  importance,  a  furtlier  explanation  will  be  made, 
showing  that  for  centuries  this  same  discrepancy  of  opinion  has 
been  a  cause  for  endless  dispute  and  contentions. 

We  see  it  shown,  1st,  by  the  Jtnvs  ;  and  it  is  known  they  dif- 
fered so  much  in  interpretin<f  and  understanding  the  Word,  that 
the  majority,  taking  it  in  its  literal  sense,  believed  and  expected 
that  the  Lord  would  come  as  a  mighty  prince  and  deliver  them 
from  their  enemies,  build  up  Jerusalem,  and  exalt  them  above  all 
nations.  Hy  the  means  of  this  misinterpreting  they  cnicified  the 
Saviour,  ruined  themselves  as  a  people,  and  at  the  present  period 
are  wanderers  and  exiles. 

2.  We  leani  from  histoty  that  the  C'atholics  not  understand- 
ing, and  adopting  a  false  method  of  interpreting,  believed  and 
asserted  that  they  alone  were  the  true  Christian  Church  and  re- 
ligion ;  and  as  otliers  refused  to  admit  their  claims,  thousands  lost 
their  lives  amid  excruciating  suflering,  and  the  reign  of  bigotry 
and  superstition  was  perpetuated.  We  also  learn  that  after  the 
Reformation  the  Prot(>stants  differed  greatly  on  fundamental 
])oints  and  i-etorted  upon  each  other  with  almost  Catholic  severity, 
and  from  that  time  down  to  the  ])resent  era,  it  is  evinced  that  one 
of  the  chief  causes  why  there  is  such  a  want  of  unity  among 
Christians  is  this  same  diversity  of  opinion. 

Nothing  exhibits  luore  clearly  the  necessity  of  knowing  more 


36  CONSEQUENCES   OF   WANTING   SUCH   A    KEY. 

concerning  the  Scriptures  than  the  fact  that  at  the  present  time 
it  has  not  been  decided  which  of  the  books  that  compose  the 
Bible  are  genuine,  and  the  work  of  inspiration.  The  time  has 
been,  as  is  well  known,  when  the  collection  of  writings  known  as 
the  Apocrypha  was  once  pubhshed  as  a  part  of  the  Scriptures 
and  considered  as  authentic  as  any.  It  would,  we  think,  be  dif- 
ficult to  show  why  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  should  be  rejected,  or 
considered  less  useful,  or  not  as  well  wiitten  a  composition  as  the 
Song  of  Solomon ;  or  why  the  book  of  Maccabees  is  not  every  way 
equal  to  that  of  Esther,  in  which  the  name  of  God  is  not  once  men- 
tioned. It  will  be  found,  upon  examination,  that  for  a  long  period 
this  subject  has  been  a  mooted  point  among  theologians,  some 
claiming  inspiration  for  particular  pai-ts  of  the  Holy  Oracles,  and 
others  denying  that  they  had  any  marks  of  the  divine  impress, 
and  are  no  more  to  be  esteemed  than  the  various  Jewish  legends 
which  have  been  put  in  circulation.  It  is  known  that  Luther 
went  so  far  as  to  deny  the  inspiration  of  St.  James,  and  one  of 
his  followers  was  so  displeased  with  it  as  to  charge  this  apostle 
with  wilful  falsehood.*  Richard  Baxter  says :  "  For  my  part, 
I  could  never  boast  of  any  such  testimony,  or  light  of  the  Spirit, 
nor  reason  neither,  which,  without  human  testimony,  would  have 
made  me  beheve  that  the  Book  of  Canticles  is  canonical  and 
written  by  Solomon,  and  the  Book  of  Wisdom  apocryphal  and 
written  by  Philo.  Nor  could  I  have  known  all  or  any  historical 
books  such  as  Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth,  Samuel,  Kings,  Chronicles, 
Ezra,  Nehemiah  &c.,  to  be  written  by  divine  inspiration,  but  by 
tradition."  In  the  above  it  can  be  seen  that  Baxter  ui-ges  tradi- 
tion as  the  evidence  of  inspiration  ;  yet  there  are  others  who  view 
the  subject  differently,  and  make  an  appeal  in  favor  of  the  inter- 
nal evidence  of  the  sacred  ^\^^tings  ;  and  as  yet  the  Avhole  matter 
is  left  in  doubt,  and  the  leading  sects  have  Bibles  with  different 
books.  This  is  the  case  with  the  Lutherans,  the  books  to  which 
they  ascribe  inspiration  being  not  numerically  the  same  with  those 
used  by  the  Catholics,  while  the  Armenian  Bible  contains  more 
than  the  others. 

But  the  chief  difficulty  in  respect  to  this  subject  is  not  whether 
such  wiitmgs  as  the  Apocrypha  are  the  word  of  God,  but 
whether  those  books  which  have  been  formerly  considered  as 

*  Dwight's  Sermons,  lx^^i.  p.  578. 


BAD   EFFECTS    OF   THIS    OBSCURITY.  37 

such  are  to  be  received ;  for  the  time  has  now  arrived,  when  not 
by  Deists  only,  but  among  the  accredited  ministers  of  the  Protes- 
tant Church,  is  the  question  agitated,  and  the  authenticity  of  the 
Pentateuch  called  in  question ;  it  being  considered  as  not  bearing 
the  Divine  impress,  and  as  a  human  composition,  the  work  of  Mo- 
ses or  some  other  ancient  writer.  The  Rev,  Dr.  Palfrey,  late  Pro- 
fessor of  Bfblical  Literature  m  the  University  of  Cambridge,  Mas- 
sachusetts, speaking  of  the  Pentateuch,  says  that  "  we  are  not 
debarred  from  supposing  that  it  had  its  origin  in  the  imperfect 
wisdom  of  Moses  ;"*  and  Dr.  Nott,  in  his  lecture  on  the  Connection 
between  the  Biblical  and  Physical  History  of  Man,  asks :  "  How 
could  the  author  of  Genesis  know  any  thing  of  the  true  history  of 
the  creation,  or  of  the  races  of  men,  when  his  knowledge  of  the 
physical  world  was  so  extremelv  limited  ?"f 

Language  hke  this  speaks  most  plainly,  and  ennces  that  if  ever 
a  belief  suffered  from  the  want  of  a  correct  knowledge — from  the 
need  of  something  definite  and  which  can  be  looked  upon  as  an 
authority,  it  is  the  Christian  religion. 

When  the  practical  operation  of  the  obscvirity  of  the  Scrip- 
tures is  further  examined,  it  is  found  to  be  ruinous  in  the  extreme, 
and  often  the  labors  of  the  clergyman  are  rendered  futile  and  nu- 
gator}'.  We  see  this  evinced  when  an  intelligent  parishioner  calls 
upon  his  pastor  for  an  explanation  of  some  difficult  passage,  and 
concerning  Avhich  the  religious  instructor  is  utterly  unable  to 
answer.  In  such  a  case  he  has  but  two  resources :  one  is,  to 
inform  the  layman  that  he  must  not  exercise  his  reason  in  exam- 
ining the  Scriptui-es  in  this  manner ;  and  the  other,  to  honestly 
confess  that  he,  the  clergyman,  is  ignorant  concerning  the  matter. 
It  is  obvious  that  in  both  instances  the  respect  held  for  the  pas- 
tor, religion,  and  the  Scriptures,  Ls  seriously  injured,  and  the  mind 
placed  in  a  condition  to  receive  any  pernicious  belief.  This  is 
fully  illustrated  in  the  passage  where  it  is  said  that  at  some  time 
the  wicked  shall  be  cast  "  into  a  lake  and  furnace  of  fire,"  and 
be  tormented  forever  and  ever.  For  many  years  it  has  been  ad- 
mitted that  such  passages  are  to  be  taken  in  a  figurative  sense, 

*  Acad-emical  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Scriptures  and  Antiquities,  Vol.  I.  Lect. 
IV.  pp.  85,  86. 

t  Lectures  delivered  in  1849  on  the  connection  between  the  Biblical  and 
Physical  Instory  of  Man,  by  J.  C.  Nott,  ir.D.,  p.  53. 


38  CONSEQUENCES    OF    WANTING    SUCH    A    KEY. 

and  that  the  flames  and  fire  mentioned  are  not  to  be  considered 
as  material.  Now  a  knowledge  of  this  manner  of  interpreting 
has  become  known  among  the  great  body  of  irreligious  people  ; 
hence  at  the  present  time,  no  matter  how  strongly  and  earnestly, 
sabbath  after  sabbath,  the  preacher  warns  and  exhorts  his  audi- 
ence against  the  day  of  judgment  and  future  retribution,  the 
majority  listen  calmly  or  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  his  entceaties,  and 
adopt  this  method  of  reasoning  to  nullify  its  effect :  to  wit,  "  that 
the  pastor  knows  no  more  concerning  the  matter  than  them- 
selves— the  jMSsage  is  highly  figurative — God  is  too  benevolent 
to  punisli  them  after  such  a  manner."  ....  It  is  evident 
that  when  such  a  belief  is  held  one  of  the  most  efficient  of  means 
is  lost,  and  a  revival  cannot  be  produced.  In  this  case,  and  un- 
der the  influence  of  such  views,  the  Gospel  is  rendered  power- 
less, and  thousands  are  irrecoverably  ruined.  And  one  principal 
cause  is,  that  the  clergyman  is  unable  firmly  and  beyond  doubt  to 
explain  the  figurative  sense  of  the  words  of  Scripture  and  of  fu- 
ture rewards  and  punishments. 

If  we  are  not  mistaken,  there  are  many  eminent,  pious,  and 
benevolent  men,  who  secretly  or  openly  hold  to  the  doctrine  of 
annihilation  of  the  wicked,  or  of  a  restoration  of  all  things.  And 
from  sucli  opinions  the  mass  have  confirmed  tliemselves  in  their 
persuasion,  and  believe  that  at  some  time  all  will  be  well  Avith 
them.  We  believe,  also,  that  the  doctrine  is  taught  from  a  mis- 
interpreting of  the  Scriptures,  that  God  saves  from  mere  mercy, 
and  that  works  are  not  absolutely  necessary  for  salvation.  Not 
only  is  such  a  manner  of  interpreting  derogatory  to  the  Creator, 
and,  if  tme,  would  accuse  him  of  a  wicked  partiality  in  saving 
one  in  preference  to  another ;  but  it  is,  at  the  same  time,  one 
great  cause  why  thousands  are  lulled  into  a  fatal  security,  and 
delay  attending  to  spiritual  and  religious  subjects  until  it  is  too 
late.  There  are  those  who  believe  that  they  can  accumulate  a 
large  property,  and  this  by  the  most  unjust  means,  and  then  at 
the  end  of  a  long  life,  and  when  they  have  solely  served  self  and 
mammon,  can  be  saved.  It  seems  impossible  to  discover  a  delu- 
sion greater,  or  one  more  injurious  to  themselves  and  the  interests 
of  Christianity. 

One  of  the  most  striking  instances  illustrating  the  pi-esent  state 
of  religion,  is  the  many  defalcations  of  persons  who  for  years 


PKESENT    ASPECT    OF    THE    CHUKCII.  39 

have  held  offices  of  trust.  In  these  cases,  we  see  members  of 
the  church  in  good  standing,  and  who  for  years  have  regularly 
attended  and  partaken  of  the  sacrament,  suddenly-  become  de- 
faulters to  a  large  amount,  and  the  public  defrauded  by  those  in 
whom  they  had  placed  every  confidence.  It  is  apparent  that 
such  startling  incidents  are  not  only  injurious  to  those  who  look 
up  to  their  superiors  as  examples  worthy  of  ^piitation,  but  that 
their  tendency  is  to  destroy  the  bond  of  union  and  confidence 
amongst  all  classes,  without  which  society  could  not  exist.  In 
former  times,  in  the  days  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers,  to  have  it  known 
that  one  was  a  communicant  of  a  church,  was  an  honor  and 
guarantee  of  honesty.  But  now,  by  the  majority,  after  the  les- 
sons of  sad  experience,  it  is  frequently  considered  otherwise. 

Notwithstanding  what  has  been  remarked,  it  may  be  affirmed 
that  the  Christian  religion  is  not  suffering  from  the  want  of  a 
knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  magnificent  and  -well-at- 
tended church,  may  be  pointed  out  as  proof  of  the  assertion.  Now, 
as  is  well  known,  this  may  be  an  outward  and  external  appearance, 
and  true  sincerity  and  faith  be  altogetlier  wanting.  An  eminent 
writer,  in  respect  to  this  subject,  informs  us,  that  "a  church  may 
have  a  name  that  she  liveth,  while  as  to  genuine  goodness  and 
truth  she  may  be  stone  dead.  (Rev.  iii.  1.)  The  external  forms, 
the  outside  of  a  church,  and  religion,  may  indeed  appear  beautiful 
as  a  whited  sepulchre ;  while  dead  men's  bones,  and  all  unclean- 
ness,  are  within.  (Matt,  xxiii.  27.)  She  may  even  have  a  form 
of  true  life  ;  the  outward  appearance  of  goodnes-s  ;  her  members 
may  pour  forth  frequent,  fervent,  and  long  prayers ;  may  listen 
to  preaching,  go  to  the  Holy  Supper,  give  to  the  poor,  help  the 
needy,  expend  money  on  churches,  confer  endowments  upon  hos- 
pitals, and  do  other  like  things,  and  yet  not  know  what  genuine 
faith  or  genuine  love  is.  For  all  this  may  be  done  "  to  be  seen 
of  men ;"  thus,  from  a  purely  selfish  principle.  None  were 
more  remarkable  for  their  external  piety  and  religious  devotion 
than  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  at  the  consummation  of  the  Jewish 
Church.  They  made  broad  their  phylacteries,  and  enlarged  the 
borders  of  their  garments,  and  made  long  prayers.  Yet  what 
severe  denunciations  did  the  Lord  utter  against  them !  (Matt, 
xxiii.)  Consequently,  if  the  principle  or  motive  from  which  the 
good  deeds  just  enumerated  emanate  be  impure,  the  deeds  are 


40  CONSJCQUENCES    OF    WAJS'TING    SUCH    A   KEY 

not  really  good,  but  only  so  in  appearance.  They  are  done  for 
show,  and  their  internal  quality  is  corrupt.  Therefore,  the  per- 
sons who  do  them  may  be  a  church  (or  profess  a  religion) 
outwardly,  but  not  inwardly  ;  i.  e.,  they  may  have  faith,  charity, 
piety,  and  worship,  in  then-  outward  life,  which  appears  before 
men ;  but  nothing  of  these  in  their  hearts,  or  inward  life,  which 
appears  before  G(Jd." 

From  this  it  can  be  seen  that  the  external  form  of  a  church 
and  religion  may  exist,  while  its  inteiior,  or  heavenly  principle, 
wliich  alone  can  uphold  a  church,  may  be  wholly  extinguished. 
Though  there  are  many  excellent  and  pious  Christians  existing  in 
all  sects  and  denominations,  yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  by 
some  means  the  Christian  religion  at  the  present  time  is  an  ex- 
ternal religion,  and  presents  the  distinguisliing  features  which 
characterized  the  Jewish  Chui-ch  at  its  fall.  That  this  is  the 
case  is  not  only  shown  from  observation,  but  confirmed  by  re- 
marks to  be  found  in  our  leading  periodicals,  the  writers  of  which 
lament  the  materialism  and  selfishness  of  the  age,  and  the  de- 
plorable state  of  its  refigion  and  philosophy. 

In  the  January  number  of  the  Christian  Union  and  Religious 
Memorial,  a  journal  published  monthly  under  the  editori^il  super- 
vision of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  American  Evangelical 
Alliance,  we  find  an  able  article  describing  the  critical  state  of 
the  Christian  religion  at  the  present  era  (1848)  in  the  United 
States. 

On  this  subject  it  is  said  that,  "  In  our  o^vn  country,  during 
ten  or  tAventy  years  past,  the  history  of  religious  divisions  and 
animosity  is  peculiarly  instructive.  About  twenty  years  since 
the  Society  of  Friends  di\aded.  The  Methodists,  Baptists,  Pres- 
byterians, Congregationahsts,  Episcopalians,  and  some  of  the  Re- 
formed churches  have  either  followed  the  example,  or  have  been 
rent  and  torn  by  disagreements  more  or  less  severe  and  divisive. 
The  peace  of  God  has  certainly  departed.  And  in  those  cases 
where  neither  party  have  denied  to  the  other  a  title  to  citizenship 
in  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  these  divisions  cannot  be  justified 
on  any  scriptural  groimds  of  duty  or  expediency. 

"  In  the  progress  of  these  contentions  during  ten  years  past, 
the  churches  of  our  land  have  been  mourning  over  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Spirit.     The  moumful  fact  is  almost  imiversallv  acknowl- 


KELIGIorS    DECLENSION    ACKNOWLEDGED.  41 

edged.  There  have  been,  and  are,  signal  and  blessed  exceptions. 
Still  the  desolation  is  too  glaring  and  wide-spread  to  be  doubted 
or  concealed.  There  is  almost  a  perfect  agreement  in  this,  an 
undivided  sentiment  and  feeling,  that  Zion  mourns,  and  all  her 
interests  languish  under  the  hidings  of  the  face  of  her  King.  The 
blessed  Comforter  has  taken  his  flight,  far  from  the  '  realms  of 
noise  and  strife ;'  all  circles  feel  the  blight  of  his  absence,  the 
ministers,  the  officers,  and  the  wicked  world  around  us. 

"  A  lady,  who,  after  two  years'  retirement,  returned  recently 
to  our  city,  expressed  her  great  astonishment  and  grief  at  the 
change,  the  sad  change  that  had  come  over  the  spirit  of  her 
friends.  Many  whom  she  had  believed  never  could  become 
worldly  again,  seemed  to  have  lost  their  spirituality,  and  to  be 
immersed  in  the  pursuits  and  follies  of  an  imrenewed  and  pleas- 
ure-loving world. 

"  Fathers,  who  seemed  once  to  have  devoted  themselves  and 
their  famihes  to  God ;  whose  supreme  object  seemed  to  be  to 
train  their  households  for  heaven,  and  prepare  their  offspring  to 
serve  God  in  tliis  life,  and  to  enjoy  him  forever,  have  become 
absorbed  in  the  world,  and  are  now  far  more  devoted  to  th.eir 
business  than  to  God. 

"  Mothei-s,  who  once  seemed  wedded  to  the  Cross,  and  to 
have  utterly  renounced  and  forsaken  this  world,  have  returned  to 
its  vanities,  and  are  seeking  for  their  sons'  and  daughters'  prefer- 
ment in  this  life,  with  far  more  zeal  and  anxiety  than  they  do  a  name 
and  a  place  in  heaven.  Conformity  to  the  world  has  almost  ob- 
literated the  likeness  of  Christ.  The  pursuits  and  the  maxims  of 
the  ungodl}',  the  fashion  of  this  world  which  passeth  away,  the 
pleasures  and  frivolities  of  the  thoughtless  throng,  have  decoyed 
and  led  captive  the  daughters  of  Zion.  The  '■peculiar  people, 
zealous  of  good  works,'  are  very  few.  The  veiy  peculiarity  of 
Christian  life  is  almost  done  away. 

"  The  sons  and  daughtei-s  who  have  been  offered  up  at  the 
holy  altar,  and  with  parental  tears  and  prayers  consecrated  to 
the  Lord,  and  sealed  with  the  sign  of  the  covenant,  are  found 
where  the  dew  of  heaven,  which  once  fell  upon  their  brows,  is 
exhaled  and  lost. 

"  The  whole  church,  in  all  her  interests,  sits  like  the  daughter 
of  Zion  woni  and  desolate  in  a  wilderness.     The  ministr\'  are  cold 


42  CONSKQUKA'CKS    OV    \VANTI>,"(;    SLTH    A    KEY. 

and  intellectual.  Office-bearers  are  at  their  business.  The  people 
of  God  are  engrossed  in  cares  or  pleasures.  The  prayer-meeting 
is  chilling  and  thin.  Devotion  is  at  its  lowest  ebb.  The  pastor 
can  hardly  read  '  How  amiable  are  thy  tabernacles !'  for  they  are 
become  dreary  as  the  gates  of  death. 

"  It  is  not  maintained  that  this  is  the  universal  state,  without 
qualification  or  exception.  It  is  not  so.  There  are  pastors,  there 
are  officers,  and  private  Christians,  who  see,  and  feel,  and  mourn 
over  this  melancholy  declension.  TI.ere  are  churches  in  whose 
bosom  there  is  a  '  remnant'  of  praying  souls,  whose  sighs  and 
cries  have  reached  the  ear  of  then-  Redeemer,  and  who  are 
revived  and  refreshed,  like  Gideon's  fleece,  amid  the  surrounding- 
drought. 

"  But  that  this  is  the  general  aspect  of  Zion,  few  will  question, 
except  those  who  have  strayed  so  far  away  themselves  from  the 
Lord,  that  they  have  lost  both  the  consciousness  and  the  measure- 
ment of  their  wandering.  They  are  not  altogether  blind  to  the 
great  facts  of  public  immorality  that  stare  us  in  the  face.  They 
see  the  spirit  of  war  and  aggression,  Avhich  has  made  such  fright- 
ful strides  over  our  land.  Hoav  many  there  are  who,  a  few 
years  since,  would  have  shrunk  with  horror  from  the  idea  of 
sending  ten  thousand  souJs  to  instant  death  by  balls  and  bayonets, 
and  who  can  now  entertain  with  composure  the  hideous  narra- 
tives of  the  fiend-like  scenes  of  the  battle-field  !  War  and  aggres- 
sion, injustice,  Sabbath-breaking,  intemperance,  licentiousness, 
fraud,  and  iniquity  aboimd." — (pp.  18,  19,  No.  I.) 

In  a  discourse  delivered  b}^  Dr.  Olin  to  the  graduating  class 
of  the  Wesleyan  University,  we  find  the  following  :  "  I  do 
not  allow  myself  to  doubt  that  in  several  instances,  at  least,  edu- 
cated men  and  ministers  have  felt  constrained  to  give  up  old  and 
contract  new  church  relations ;  but  I  can  scarcely  recollect  a  case 
in  which  the  change  was  made  in  the  face  of  losses  or  suffering. 
It  is  usually  from  low  to  higher  salaries  ;  from  more  to  less  labor 
or  exposure  ;  from  less  cultivated  or  wealthy  or  fashionable  com- 
munities, to  those  deemed  more  so.  I  would  not  dare  express  or 
indulge  distrust  in  regard  to  the  motives  which,  in  any  particular 
instance,  may  have  led  to  such  changes  ;  but  the  facts  to  which 
I  have  adverted  are  incontrovertible,  as  they  are  universally 
known." 


TISTniONY    OF    RF.V.  DIJ.  OIJX.  43 

In  another  place,  after  alluding  to  the  strong  tendency  in  our 
religious  operations  to  gather  the  rich  and  the  poor  into  separate 
folds,  he  remarks,  that  "  Nowhere  else,  I  believe,  but  in  the 
United  States,  certainly  nov/here  else  to  the  same  extent,  does 
this  unchristian  separation  of  classes  prevail  in  the  _  Christian 
church.  The  beggar  in  his  tattered  vestments  walks  the  splendid 
courts  of  St.  Peter,  and  kneels  at  its  costly  altars  by  the  side  of 
dukes  and  cardinals.  The  peasant  in  his  wooden  shoes  is  wel- 
comed in  the  gorgeous  church  of  Notre  Dame  and  the  Madeline  ; 
and  even  in  England,  where  political  and  social  distinctions  are 
more  rigorously  enforced  than  in  any  other  country  on  earth,  the 
lord  and  peasant,  the  richest  and  the  poorest,  are  usually  occu- 
pants of  the  same  church,  and  partake  of  the  same  communion. 

"That  the  reverse  of  all  tins  is  true  in  many  parts  of  this 
country,  every  observing  man  knows  full  well ;  and  what  is  yet 
more  deplorable,  while  the  lines  of  demarcation  between  the  dif- 
ferent classes  are  already  become  sufficiently  distinct,  the  tendency 
is  receiving  new  strength  and  development  in  a  rapidly  augment- 
ing ratio.  Even  in  country  places,  where  the  population  is 
sparse,  and  the  artificial  distinctions  of  society  are  little  known, 
the  working  of  this  strange  element  is,  in  many  instances,  made 
manifest ;  and  a  petty  coterie  of  village  magnates  may  be  fovmd 
worshipping  God  apart  from  the  body  of  the  people.  But  the 
evil  is  much  more  apparent,  as  well  as  more  deeply  seated,  in 
our  populous  towns,  where  causes  which  produce  it  have  been 
longer  in  operation,  and  have  more  fully  enjoyed  the  power  of 
circumstances. 

"  In  these  o-reat  centres  of  w^ealth,  intelligence,  and  influence, 
the  separation  between  the  classes  is,  in  many  instances,  com- 
plete ;  and  in  many  more  the  process  is  rapidly  progressive. 
There  are  crowded  religious  congregations  composed  so  exclu- 
sively of  the  wealthy,  as  scarcely  to  embrace  an  indigent  family 
or  individual,  and  the  number  of  such  churches  where  the  Gospel 
is  never  preached  to  the  poor  is  constantly  increasing. 

"  Rich  men,  instead  of  associating  themselves  with  their  more 
humble  fellow- Christians,  where  their  money  as  well  as  their  in- 
fluence and  counsel  are  so  much  needed,  usually  combine  to 
erect  mao-nificent  churches,  in  which  sittings  are  too  expensive 
for  any  but  people  of  fortune,  and  from  Avhich  their  less  favored 


44  consequk]sce:s  of  wanting  such  a  key. 

brethren  are  effectually  and  pre-emptively  excluded,  as  if  there 
were  dishonor  or  contagion  in  their  presence.  A  congregation  is 
thus  constituted,  able  without  inconvenience  to  bear  the  pecuniary 
bm-dens  of  twenty  churches;  monopolizing  and  consigning  to 
comparative  inacti%-ity,  intellectual,  moral,  and  material  resources, 
for  Avant  of  which  so  many  other  congregations  are  doomed  to 
struo-o-le  with  the  most  emban-assing  difficulties.  Can  it  for  a 
moment  be  thought  that  such  a  state  of  things  is  desirable,  or  in 
harmony  with  the  spirit  and  design  of  the  Gospel  ?" — {Discourse 
delivered  August,  1845,  by  Stephen  Olin,  D.D.,  pp.  74,  Vo.) 

A  writer  in  Blackwood's  Magazine  says  :  "  When  Christianity 
came  faith  was  purified  and  enlarged,  and  information  was  en- 
larged with  it.  The  proportion  between  the  two  was  preserved. 
It  is  only  Avithin  the  last  half  century  that  this  proportion  seems 
to  be  entirely  overthro-mi.  .  .  . 

"As  to  Christianity,  doubtless  its  action  is  not  expended,  yet 
must  every  one  have  obsei-ved  that  the  Christian  religion  at 
present  affords  neither  base  nor  circumspection  to  modern  aspira- 
tions after  moral  verity.  .  .  .  Mind  seems  as  it  were  to  be  get- 
ting loose  upon  space.  It  reposes  on  no  religious  ultimates. 
Those  even  who  have  the  deepest,  the  most  immovable  conviction 
that  in  revelation  is  to  be  found  the  only  true  moral  substratum 
of  humanity,  throughout  all  its  modifications,  perceive,  at  the 
same  time,  the  incommensurateness  of  Christianity,  under  its 
■present  develo2))nents,  to  embrace  and  to  form  a  rest  for  the  new 
mental  developments  of  society. 

"  These  believing  men  look  for,  and  would  promote  an  enlarge- 
ment of  the  Gospel  faith,  whether  among  Hebrews,  Christians, 
and  we  might  add  Pagans  ;  the  mind  in  all  ages  of  the  world  has 
had  its  moral  and  religious  holdings  in  biblical  revealed  tmths, 
more  or  less  purely,  or  more  or  less  corrtiptly  conceived.  It  is 
only  now  that  a  new  phenomenon  seems  to  be  emerging — that 
these  holdings  seem  to  be  giving  way,  and  that  men  are  becoming 
accustomed  to  question  human  experience  at  large,  for  solutions 
which  they  have  hitherto  drawn,  partially,  graduall  v,  increasingly, 
according  to  the  proportionate  progression  between  natural  and 
revealed  knowledge,  directly  from'  religion.  The  result  is,  that 
human  nature  has  become  to  them,  in  all  its  moral  aspects,  a 
mighty  riddle. 


TESTIMONY    OF    FOREIGN    WRITEKS.  45 

"  The  remedy  to  this,  on  the  one  hand  luxuriant,  and  on  the 
other  barren  demorahzation  of  the  understanding,  can  consist 
only  in  a.  fresh  oldening  out  of  Christianity,  till  it  be  brought  into 
its  own  proper  superior  relationship  to  the  spirit  of  the  age." 

Another  English  periodical  says  : 

"  Then,  when  the  spiritual  had  encroaclied  upon  the  civil,  and 
had  become  itself  cIa  il  and  secular,  good  men  rose  up  against  it, 
and  bad  men  joined  them  ;  and  in  the  struggle  I'eligion  loas  de- 
stroyed. With  religious  obligations  fell  also  the  obligation  of  all 
laws ;  for  no  laws  have  any  strength  but  that  which  is  derived 
from  God.  And  though  by  a  providence  from  God,  such  as  no 
other  nation  has  experienced,  something  of  both  these  obligations 
was  once  more  established  in  this  country  over  the  hearts  and 
lives  of  men,  both  were  so  weakened  and  corrupted  that  religion 
soon  gave  way,  and  nothing  but  hiunan  and  Avorldly  considera- 
tions w'ere  left  to  keep  men  in  tlieir  line  of  duty. 

"  Hence  our  vices  and  faithlessness,  our  avarice  and  hard- 
heartedness,  our  neglect  of  the  poor  beneath  us ;  our  secularized 
clergy,  our  political  dissenters,  our  abuse  of  ecclesiastical  patron- 
age ;  our  foolish,  vulgar  exclusiveness,  which  has  severed  every 
class  of  society  from  those  above  and  below  it ;  our  disrespect  to 
governors  ;  our  disobedience  to  parents  ;  f)ur  self-indulgence,  and 
vanity,  and  extravagance,  which  have  encumbered  our  States  with 
debt.  .  .  .  Hence  our  morals  degraded  into  utilitarianism  ;  our 
philosophy  become  sensualism ;  our  politics  debased  into  economy ; 
our  science  confined  to  matter ;  our  reason  misinterpreted  to 
mean  logic ;  and  our  piety  stripped  from  truth,  and  made  matter 
of  empty  fomi,  or  of  emptier  feeling.  We  have  lost  sight  of  the 
spiritual,  and  can  see  nothing  hut  the  material.  The  Church 
was  sacrificed,  and  nothing  but  the  State  could  be  seen ;  and 
now  the  State  also  must  soon  be  lost." — [London  Quarterly  Re- 
vieiofor  Scj^t.  1840,  p.  244.) 

An  eminent  author,  reviewing  Carlyle's  Avritings,  says  :  "  Much 
would  we  say  of  Carlyle's  earnest  appeals  on  the  religion  of  the 
age,  Avere  we  not  afraid  to  venture  on  to  so  fruitful,  and  we  might 
almost  sav,  so  dangerovxs  a  subject ;  but  here,  too,  we  find  him 
uttering  his  lamentations  or  his  anathemas  against  the  hollow- 
hearted  formalism  of  Christendom — against  the  sham-worship 
which  has  taken  the  place  of  the  undaimted  faith  and  burning 


•IG  COXSEQUENCES    OF    AVAXIING    SUCH    A    KKV. 

love  of  the  prophets  and  apostles  of  God.  Without  distinction 
of  name,  of  rank,  or  of  popular  favor,  he  tears  the  mask  from  the 
features  of  hypocrisy,  and  places  again  and  again,  in  no  very 
flattering  contrast,  the  pompous,  easy,  formal,  soulless  worship 
that  is  seen  in  many  a  Christian  temple,  with  the  Hindoo,  the 
Mohammedan,  who  sees  God  in  every  thing  he  sees,  and  hears 
him  in  every  thing  he  hears.  Will  you  ever  be  calling  heathenism 
a  he  worthy  of  damnation,  which  leads  its  devotee  to  consecrate 
all  upon  its  altars,  and  with  a  wonder  which  transcends  all  yom* 
loo'ic,  bows  before  some  idol  of  natui'e ;  while  those  who,  with 
sleepy  heads  and  lifeless  spirits,  meet  in  a  framed  house,  and  go 
over  a  set  of  forms,  are  the  only  elect  of  God  !  Clear  thy  mind 
of  cant !     Does  not  God  look  at  the  heart  ?"* 

Such,  and  we  might  easily  fill  a  volume  with  like  extracts,  are 
the  opinions  of  the  press  and  others  concerning  the  religion,  phi- 
losophy, and  morals  of  the  day,  the  rationality  and  truth  of 
which  cannot  be  denied ;  and  no  one  who  has  penetrated  the 
mask  of  outward  appearance,  but  must  be  convinced  that,  with 
exceptions,  the  rehgion  of  the  present  era  is  not  only  superficial, 
but  to  a  great  degree  one  of  mere  form,  corrupt  and  without 
vitality.  It  is  also  evident  "  that  the  tendency  of  modern  litera- 
ture, in  accumulating  fact  on  fact  from  the  rich  granary  of  the 
natural  sciences,  is  fast  leading  us  to  deny  the  existence  of  all 
agents  incapable  of  being  rendered  obvious  to  the  sight,  to  the 
touch,  and  to  the  hearing ;  and  thus  is  rapidly  guiding  us  to  the 
regions  of  materialism  and  infidehty." 

Such  a  result,  Avithout  intervention,  would  happen  in  the 
natural  course  of  things,  for  it  is  impossible  that  the  great  Statute 
Book,  or  Heaven's  Code  of  Laws,  from  Avhich  is  derived  all  re- 
ligion, all  philosophy  and  morality,  can  be  obeyed  by  an  intelli- 
gent and  reasoning  people,  when  it  is  found  to  be  seemingly  un- 
intelligible and  contradictory.  What  would  be  thought  concern- 
ing the  laws  and  constitution  of  a  country,  if  we  heard  its  rulers 
openly  affirming  they  were  so  obscure  tliat  the  public  could  not 
understand  them  ?  Well  may  we  believe  that  in  such  a  case  the 
laws  would  be  doubted  or  considered  as  a  dead  letter.  Yet  such 
is  the  case  in  regard  to  the   Scriptures.     They  are  fast  becom- 

*  See  Morell's  View  of  the  PhUosophy  of  Europe  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, vol.  ii.,  p.  252. 


NEW    STATE    OF   THINGS    NOW    EXISTING.  47 

intj,  to  a  ofreat  decree,  a  dead  and  obsolete  letter  ;  and  the  editors 
of  our  religious  journals  publicly  acknowledge  the  moui-nful 
fact.* 

Because  the  Bible  as  it  is  answered  the  purposes  of  former 
ages,  it  is  most  irrational  to  suppose  that  in  its  present  state  of 
obscuiity,  and  without  a  key  to  decipher  its  mysteries,  it  will 
convey  the  desired  liglit  in  the  present  era.  An  entirely  different 
state  of  things  has  arisen.  When  the  apostles  recorded  what  is 
found  in  the  New  Testament,  the  sacred  writings  Avere  ■written 
upon  parchment,  and  the  reproduction  of  the  manuscript  could 
only  be  accomplished  by  means  of  great  labor  and  expense. 
And  until  the  art  of  printing  was  discovered,  there  were  few  who 
could  examine,  much  more  possess,  a  copy  of  the  Word.  But 
now,  as  is  well  known,  the  case  is  far  different.  The  Holy  Ora- 
cles can  easily  be  procured,  and  are  disseminated  in  every  direc- 
tion ;  yet  it  appears  that,  notwithstanding  their  great  circulation, 
and  the  age  of  intellectual  improvement,  the  Christian  religion, 
so  far  from  becoming  more  pure,  spiritual,  and  disinterested,  is 
now  becoming  the  contrary,  and  we  see  springing  up  on  every 
side  incipient  deism  and  unbelief.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  one 
cause  of  this,  is  the  apparent  obscurity  of  the  Scriptures ;  for  if 
they  were  plain  and  easily  to  be  comprehended,  their  authenticity 
would  not  be  questioned  or  doubted.  There  are  those  in  every 
part  of  the  land  Avho  lack  not  faith  in  the  genuineness  of  the  in- 
spired writings,  yet  so  great  are  its  mysteries,  and  so  numerous 
its  seeming  contradictions,  that,  joined  with  the  numerous  con- 

*  On  this  si^bject,  the  Cliristian  Examiner,  one  of  the  most  ahly  conducted 
and  well-known  of  religious  pej-iodicals,  has  the  following  remarks:  "No 
one  who  is  accustomed  to  regard  with  much  attention  the  history  and  ten- 
dency of  religious  opinions,  can  fail  of  being  convinced  that  the  qcestion 

CONCERMING   THE    INSPHiATIOX  OF   THE    ScRIPTURES  is  SOOn  tO  bcCOmC  the  niOSt 

absorbing  question  of  Christian  theology.  The  minds  of  men  are  in  that 
position  in  reference  to  this  subject  which  cannot  long  be  maintained. 
They  must  move  one  way  or  the  otlicr.  They  must  attain  to  some  sort  of 
consistency,  either  by  believing  less  or  by  believing  more.  The  authority  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  especially  those  of  the  Old  Testament,  must  either  be- 
come higher  and  stronger,  or  he  reduced  almost  to  notldng.  It  is  vain  to  ima- 
gine that  with  the  preseiit  secret  or  open  skepticism,  or  at  least  vague  and 
unsettled  notions  with  which  they  are  regarded,  even  by  many  who  are  de- 
fenders of  a  special  revelation,  they  can  be  read  and  taught  in  our  churches, 
schools,  and  families,  as  books  sui  generis,  so  as  to  command  nuich  of  real 
reverence  for  themselves.'' 


48  CONSEQUENCES    OF    WANTING   SUCH   A    KEY, 

flicting  sects  and  opinions,  they  actually  know  not  what  to  believe 
in ;  hence,  with  the  coming  generation  would  result  a  skepticism 
from  this  cause,  if  from  no  other — an  unbehef  Avhich  is  happily 
termed  by  one  who  has  Avritten  upon  the  siibject,  the  "  Skepticism 
of  Ignorance." 

Ha\ing  proceeded  thus  far  with  our  remarks,  Ave  shall  now  go 
back  and  show  the  purport  and  design  of  our  observations.  We 
began  in  Section  III.  by  asking  the  question,  AVhether,  in  the 
present  enlightened  age,  there  is  not  an  ui-gent  necessity  that  a 
Key  of  the  Holy  Oracles  should  be  discovered  ?  To  evince  this, 
we  first  remarked  that  many  parts  of  the  Bible  were  Avritten  in  a 
figurative  and  mysterious  manner ;  that  some  of  the  statements, 
even  those  of  the  most  important  nature,  appear  to  contradict 
others ;  that  some  appear  to  contradict  the  traths  of  science ; 
that  some  appear  contrary  to  principles  of  pure  morality ;  that 
some  appear  unimportant  and  trivial,  and  many  in  the  sense 
of  the  letter,  are  altogether  irrational  and  unintelligible.  In 
Section  IV.  it  Avas  evinced  that,  in  consequence  of  this  discrep- 
ancy, this  obscurity  of  the  w^oi'ds  of  Scripture,  numerous  conflict- 
ing sects  existed,  Avho  appealed  to  the  literal  sense  of  the  "Word 
in  confirmation  of  their  peculiar  belief,  hoAvever  erroneous  it  might 
be ;  that  this  obscurity  caused  many  to  doubt  the  Word  being 
the  work  of  inspiration.  It  Avas  also  shoA\'n,  that  from  this  and 
other  causes,  a  spirit  of  skepticism  prevailed  among  the  learned 
classes,  and  that  the  Christian  religion  has  become,  to  a  remark- 
able degree,  of  an  external  nature,  "  cold  and  intellectual,"  and 
without  poAver  or  vitality.  Noav,  if  Avhat  has  been  said  can  be 
relied  upon,  and  it  is  true  that  Christianity  as  yet  reposes  upon  no 
religious  ultimates,  and  is  incommensurate  in  its  present  condition 
to  embrace  and  fonn  a  rest  for  the  ncAv  mental  developments  of 
society,  then  it  is  shoA\ai  that  the  time  has  in  God's  providence 
anived,  Avhen  a  new  revelation  should  he  given  to  mankind. 

That  such  is  a  just  inference,  is  also  clear  from  an  examination 
of  the  annals  of  sacred  histoiy  ;  for  in  them  it  will  be  foimd,  that 
on  occasions  of  great  and  imminent  danger,  Avhen  the  interests  of 
mankind  appeared  about  to  be  destroyed"  by  floods  of  unbelief  and 
infidelity,  the  Deity  has  in  a  supernatural  manner  manifested 
hunself.     We  see  this  eA-inced  at  the  time  Avhen  the  patriarch 


ERA    FOR    A    NEW    DISPENSATION.  49 

Abraham  was  called  from  the  plains  of  Chaldea.  At  this  period 
the  nations  of  the  earth  were  immersed  in  the  grossest  idolatries, 
and  unless  the  Deity  had  interposed,  and  by  the  performance  of 
mighty  miracles  convinced  them  there  was  a  God  and  a  true  re- 
ligion, they  would  have  perished  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth. 
The  Deity  also  exhibited  himself  a  second  time,  and  at  an  era 
when,  as  we  are  informed,  "the  world  was  tottering  upon  its 
foundations,  and  when  the  various  religions  which  had  sufficed 
for  an  earlier  awe  no  long-er  satisfied  the  nations  ;  when  the  minds 
of  existing  generations  could  no  longer  tabernacle  in  the  ancient 
forms,  and  when  the  gods  of  the  nations  had  lost  their  oracles." 
At  this  critical  era,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  appeared  to  save  that 
which  was  lost,  and  to  reanimate  the  expiring  spark  of  humanity  ; 
and  if  it  has  been  shown  that  now,  as  then,  the  various  religions 
and  interpretations  of  the  Scriptures  which  sufficed  for  an  earlier 
age,  no  longer  satisfy  the  present  enlightened  generation,  and  the 
e%il  threatens  to  predominate  over  the  good,  then  we  are  author- 
ized to  infer,  supposing  God  to  be  an  immutable  Being,  and 
acting  the  same  to-day  as  yesterday  for  his  Church,  that  the  era  has 
again  arrived  for  him  supematurally  to  manifest  himself,  give  a  new 
dispensation,  and  thus  uphold  the  great  truths  of  Christianity. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  our  inference  is  incorrect,  and  that  it 
is  even  irrational  in  the  present  age  to  expect  a  new  revelation. 
To  this  we  reply  by  asking  whether  it  is  irrational  to  expect  such 
an  event  when  history  informs  us  that  it  has  occurred  before ; 
when  there  is  nothing  to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures  against  the 
belief,  Avhen  it  is  thought  by  many  to  be  foretold,  and  when  the 
state  of  the  Chm-ch  and  the  times  require  it  ?  Is  the  mind  to  be 
buoyed  up  by  the  hope  that  man  alone  can  originate  a  system  of 
truth  capable  of  confuting  the  irreligion  of  the  day,  or  give  an 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  which  will  adjust  the  jarring  and 
discordant  sects  and  join  them  into  a  happy  brotherhood  ? 
That  it  cannot,  is  shown  from  the  experience  of  ages.  It  is  seen 
from  the  fact  that  for  centui'ies  the  most  powerful  of  intellects 
have  been  directed  with  the  most  'persevermy  industry  in  the  ex- 
amination of  the  Holy  Oracles,  yet  at  the  present  time  they  are 
not  agreed  concerniny  its  most  important  parts  ;  and  it  is  evinced 
that  by  human  means  alone  the  book  sealed  with  seven  seals  can 
never  be  loosed. 

4 


50  CONSEQUENCES    OF    WANTING   SUCH    A    KEY. 

That  it  is  not  so  vain  at  the  present  time  to  expect  a  new  reve- 
lation, a  day  of  clearer  light,  is  also  evinced  from  the  present  state 
of  literature ;  and  if  the  experience  of  the  past  can  benefit  us, 
then  it  is  shown  that  now  is  the  time  when  the  interests  of  Chris- 
tianity are  more  endangered  than  ever ;  for  is  it  not  tiaie  that  the 
present  situation  of  the  Christian  world  resembles,  on  a  grand 
scale,  the  situation  of  France  during  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  ?  It  is  certainly  undeniable  that  the  resemblance  is,  in 
many  things,  so  similar,  that  there  is  no  difference  except  for  the 
worst.  At  that  period  learned  skeptics  sowed  broadcast  the  seeds 
of  infidelity,  and  poisoned  the  springs  of  knowledge,  and  the  re- 
sult was  the  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution ;  and  at  the  pres- 
ent day  the  French  nation  are  to  a  great  degree  a  people  without 
a  belief  in  God  and  immortality.  And  we  ask.  Is  there  not  im- 
minent danger  that  the  seeds  of  infidelity  which  are  now  being 
sown  will  produce  similar  results  ?  Is  it  not  tnie  that  men  of 
acknowledged  talents  and  abilities  are  striving  to  lead  the  public 
mind,  in  respect  to  the  Scriptures,  into  the  same  fatal  career  ? 
Is  not  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  questioned  ?  Is  it  not  true 
that  in  om*  schools  and  colleges  the  natural  sciences  are  to  be 
found  arrayed  against  seeming  biblical  truths ;  and  is  it  not 
known  that  in  the  contest  Science  apparently  has  triumphed  over 
Theology,  and  the  system  of  Copernicus  been  received  in  prefer- 
ence to  Biblical  Astronomy  ?  These  fjicts  are  undeniable,  and 
evince  that  the  spirit  is  abroad  which  animated  the  school  of  the 
French  Encyclopaedists ;  and  we  need  not  say  that  where  one 
Diderot  and  Voltaire  once  existed,  a  hundred  are  now  to  be  found 
in  their  place. 

Nothing  evinces  more  the  signs  of  the  times  than  to  see  with 
what  avidity  works  are  read  which  put  aside  the  doctrine  of  a 
Pro\ndence  as  a  thing  altogether  exploded.  A  volume  of  this 
nature  has  recently  appeared  under  the  name  of  the  "  Vestiges 
of  the  Natural  History  of  Creation."  Already  it  has  passed 
through  four  editions,  and  is  considered  by  many  as  taking 
grounds  incontrovertible. 

The  North  British  Review  says  concerning  this  work,  that, 
"  prophetic  of  infidel  times  and  indicating  the  unsoundness  of  our 
general  education,  the  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  History  of  Crea- 
tion has  started  into  public  favor  with  a  fair  chance  of  poisoning 


SCIENCE    ARRAYED   AGAINST    REVELATION.  51 

the  fountains  of  science  and  sapping  the  foundations  of  religion. 
Popular  in  its  subject  as  -svell  as  in  its  expositions,  this  volume 
has  obtained  a  wide  circulation  among  tlie  influential  classes  of  so- 
ciety. It  has  been  read  and  applauded  by  those  who  can  neither 
weigh  the  facts,  nor  appreciate  its  arguments,  nor  detect  its  ten- 
dencies ;  Avhile  those  who  can,  the  philosopher,  the  naturalist, 
and  the  divine,  have  concurred  in  branding  it  with  the  severest 
censure." 

The  Rev.  Pye  Smith,  making  mention  of  the  discrepancy  be- 
tween Geology  and  the  apparent  sense  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the 
result  which  false  views  are  producing,  says :  "  These  subjects  are 
not  allowed  to  lie  in  concealment,  they  are  bruited  abroad.  If 
Christians  can  be  quiet,  infidels  will  not  be  so.  The  arrow  flieth 
by  day  and  the  pestilence  walketh  in  darkness.  Not  only  in 
books  of  philosophy,  but  in  the  periodical  journals  and  common 
literature  of  the  day,  in  this  country  and  in  others,  in  Europe  and 
in  America,  by  various  phase,  covertly  and  openly,  coarsely  and 
politely,  it  is  proclaimed  that  Cuvier  has  supplanted  Moses,  that 
Geology  has  exploded  Genesis."* 

Dr.  Lord,  in  his  reviewf  of  Strauss'  Life  of  Christ,  and  which 
mav  be  considered  as  the  representative  of  that  system  of  German 
Rationalism  which  is  now  being  disseminated  throughout  the  land, 
savs,  that  "  in  consequence  of  this  manner  of  explaining  the  Scrip- 
tures having  prevailed  in  Europe,  the  greater  part  of  the  clergy 
both  of  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  churches  are  substantially 
infidels."  He  states  that  there  never  was  a  time  when  worse 
errors  were  taught  under  the  name  of  Cliristianity  than  at  present, 
or  bolder  assaults  made  in  or  out  of  the  Church  on  the  founda- 
tion of  morals  and  religion,  and  when  the  principles  of  infidelity 
were  taught  on  such  a  scale  under  the  guise  of  biblical  learning, 
or  a  doubt  or  denial  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  was  so 
slight  a  barrier  to  admission  to  the  ministry.  He  concludes  by 
observing,  that  "  Christianity  can  make  no  progress  or  even  main- 
tain its  ground  against  its  formidable  enemies  Avithout  a  special 
interjMsition  from  heaven^ 

The  above  citations  speak  for  themselves,  and  full  well  confirm 

*  Eelation  between  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  some  parts  of  Geological 
Science.     By  J.  P.  Smith,  D.D.,  F.G.S.,  p.  270. 

+  Theolog-ical  and  Literary  Journal,  No.  2,  p.  2.")7  :  D.  N.  Lord. 


52  CONSEQUENCES    OF    WANTING    SUCH    A    KEY. 

what  has  been  said  of  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  of  their  agree- 
ment with  the  period  referred  to.  Yet  it  may  be  thought  by 
some  that  we  have  gone  too  far  ;  and  even  granting  that  the  ener- 
gies of  an  all-powerful  press  are  exerted  in  flooding  the  land  with 
a  hterature  for  the  educated  and  unlearned  of  the  most  pernicious 
character,  that  the  danger  is  not  so  great  as  anticipated,  or  the 
state  of  religion  and  the  Chm-ch  so  external  and  corrupt  as  repre- 
sented. But  we  ask  those  who  view  the  subject  in  this  light  not 
to  allow  themselves  to  be  influenced  by  aught  which  we  have 
advanced,  but  examine  what  is  said  by  such  men  as  Chalmers,* 
Carlyle,  President  Olin,  and  the  distinguished  editors  of  the  Eu- 
ropean Magazines.  Opinions  like  theirs  are  not  to  be  passed,  and 
we  could  wish  no  better  confirmations  of  our  \'iews. 

If  it  could  be  shoA\'n  that  we  were  not  living  in  an  extraordi- 
nary age,  then  might  the  assertions  which  have  been  made  be 
doubted ;  but  this  is  not  the  case,  and  there  is  a  general  opinion 
that  the  era  in  which  we  live  is  one  such  as  rarely  occurs,  and  of 
momentous  import. 

Thus  the  Christian  Union,  at  the  close  of  a  long  article  on  the 
state  of  religion,  says  :  "  Surely  Ave  are  on  the  eve  of  great  events  ; 
our  country  has  reached  a  crisis  in  its  history  the  issue  of  which 
no  mortal  can  divine."  An  English  paper  informs  us  that  "  we 
are  in  the  midst  of  one  of  those  rare  and  solemn  crises  given  by 
God  to  nations ;  the  shaken  world  vacillates  at  its  base.  The 
people  impel  it  towards  a  kmiiiious  fviture,  whilst  kings  wish  to 
drive  it  back  into  the  darkness  of  the  past." 

The  author  of  the  "  Hand  of  God  in  Histoiy"  says :  "  Again 
we  are  led  to  conclude  that  all  human  affairs,  and  the  great  work 
of  redemption,  are  approaching  a  crisis.    The  lines  of  ProNddence 

*  Dr.  Chalmers,  in  the  North  British  Keview  of  Feb.  1847,  says,  speaking 
of  Mr.  Carlyle,  "There  lies  an  immense  responsibility  on  professing  Chris- 
tians, if  such  men  as  lie,  with  their  importunate  and  most  righteous  demanrl 
for  all  the  generous  and  godlike  virtues  of  the  Gospel,  are  not  brought  to 
the  obedience  of  faith!  There  must  be  a  deplorable  want  amongst  us  of  the 
'liglit  shining  before  men,'  \yhen,  instead  of  glorifying  our  cause,  tliey  can 
speak,  and  with  a  truth  the  most  humiliating,  of  our  inert  and  unproductive 
orthodoxy.  These  withering  adjurations  of  Carlyle  should  be  of  use  to  our 
churcl\es  ;  as  things  stand  at  present,  our  creeds  and  confessions  have  be- 
come effete,  and  the  Bible  a  dead  letter ;  and  that  orthodoxy  which  was  at 
one  time  our  glory,  by  withering  into  the  inert  and  the  lifeless,  is  now  tho 
shame  and  the  reproach  of  all  our  churches." 


CONSEQUENCES    OF    WANTING   SUCH    A    KKV.  53 

seem  fast  converging  to  some  great  point  of  consummation.  Great 
events  thicken  upon  us.  Events  ■which  were  Avont  to  occupy 
centuries  are  now  crowded  in  less  decades  of  years." 

A  clergyman  of  the  Chm'ch  of  England  observes :  "  All  I  can 
say  in  this  place  is,  that  I  am  most  firmly  persuaded  that  we  are 
living  in  that  awful  period  designated  in  the  Scriptures  as  the  last 
time  and  the  last  days.  Every  succeeding  year  serves  to  increase 
the  evidence  on  tliis  head,  and  to  give  clearness,  and  precision,  and 
intensity  to  those  signs  which  already  have  been  noticed  by  com- 
mentators. Even  worldly  men  are  so  affected  by  the  signs  of  the 
times  as  to  feel  seriously  pei'suaded  that  some  tremendous  crisis 
is  at  hand.  It  therefore  more  especially  behooves  the  professing 
people  of  God  to  be  upon  the  watch-tower,  and  be  prepared  for 
the  future,  that  the  day  may  not  overtake  them  as  a  thief  in  the 
night." 

We  might  easily  multiply  quotations  like  the  above,  but  it  is 
needless,  sufficient  having  been  said  to  exhibit  the  grounds  upon 
which  our  belief  is  based. 


SECTION  Y. 


INFERENCE  IN   RESPECT  TO  THE  NECESSITY  OF   A   NEW   REVELATION 
FURTHER  EXAMINED. 

If,  in  the  preceding  Section,  it  has  been  shown  that  there  is  a 
necessity  for  a  new  revelation,  the  question  arises.  From  whence 
shall  we  expect  it  ?  Will  the  Deity  manifest  himself  as  at  the 
call  of  Abraham,  or  the  coming  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ?  That  he 
will  not,  we  infer  from  the  more  enlightened  state  of  mankind,  a 
great  proportion  of  whom  no  longer  worship  stocks  and  stones, 
or  the  hideous  idols  of  Eastern  mythology ;  and  there  are  those 
who  believe  in  a  Supreme  Being  and  in  a  futuritv,  and  we  have 
the  Bible,  which  the  Christian  knows,  notwithstanding  the  pecu- 
liar manner  in  which  it  is  written,  to  be  an  inspired  volume. 
This  being  the  case,  it  is  rational  to  suppose  that  if  a  supernatural 
manifestation  is  made  in  the  present  age,  it  will  be  by  giving  an 
explanation  of  the  Scriptures,  and  a  fixed  and  permanent  method 
of  interpreting  them,  that  will  be  considered  as  a  standard  and 
authority  by  which  all  sects  may  be  governed,  and  which  at  the 
same  time  is  rational  and  agreeable  to  a  just  sense  of  right  and 
Avrong,  and  that  reconciles  itself  with  the  discoveries  made  in 
modern  sciences.  If  such  a  revelation  was  given,  then  we  may 
well  believe  that  the  Bible  Avould  again  be  considered  as  the 
Rock  of  Ages,  and  would  again  open  its  fountains  of  living  knowl- 
edge, and  thus  would  the  Church  be  regenerated  and  Chris- 
tianity restored.  And  if  this  is  a  sound  inference,  then  there 
remains  for  the  Chiistian  inquirer  (however  repulsive  it  may  be) 
but  one  resource,  which  is,  to  give  heed  to  and  examine  the 
claims  of  those  who  most  solemnly  assert  that  in  a  supernatural 
manner  they  have  been  enabled  to  interpret  the  mysteries  of  the 
Holy  Oracles  and  reconcile  their  apparent  contradictions. 


CLAIMS    OF    SWEDEN' BOKG.  55 

Extraordinary  claims  like  these  have  with  justice  at  all  times 
been  regarded  as  either  those  of  ^^le  impostors,  who  have  taken 
this  method  of  gaining  an  ascendency  over  their  fellow-men,  or  of 
others  who,  by  some  means,  had  rendered  themselves  victims  of 
their  own  delusions  ;  hence,  on  this  account,  the  subject  has  been 
passed  by ;  but  at  the  present  crisis  and  extraordinary  age,  the 
man  of  sincerity,  from  a  sense  of  duty  and  with  a  desire  to  leave 
no  point  unexamined,  is  obligated  (throwing  aside  former  preju- 
dices) to  seek  this  rejected  source  and  listen  to  its  assertions; 
and  the  more  Avilling  is  he  to  do  this,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  "  ti-uth  has  often  appeared  on  earth  imder  discredited  terms, 
and  that  the  Scriptures  themselves  had  their  origin  in  the  midst 
of  a  people  who  had  become  the  scorn  and  derision  of  all  others." 

Among  those  who  at  different  times  have  asserted,  that  by  the 
means  of  a  supernatural  somxe  they  were  enabled  to  give  a 
truthful  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  the  mind  rests  upon  one 
who,  above  all  others,  has  attracted  public  attention  ;  we  allude 
to  Emanuel  Swedenborg  ;  and  for  the  present,  putting  aside  the 
absurd  claims  of  others,*  we  shall  confine  our  attention  to  his. 
Swedenborg,  in  his  theological  WTitings,  informs  the  Christian 
world  that  in  a  supernatural  manner  he  has  been  enabled  to  in- 
terpret, and  give  a  key  to,  the  mysteries  of  the  Holy  Oracles  ; 
and,  astonishing  to  relate,  was  permitted,  for  the  sake  of  confirm- 
ino-  what  he  said,  to  have  intercourse  with  the  hidden  woi-ld ! 

Such  a  declaration  as  this  appears  incredible,  and  the  evident 
mark  of  a  disordered  intellect ;  but  when  it  is  considered  that  an 
eminent  apostle,  while  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos,  had  intercourse  with 
the  spiritual  world,  and  wrote  on  parchment  what  he  beheld, 
and  which  is  now  recorded  in  the  Apocalypse,  the  fact  is  evinced, 
that  God  permittiag  and  there  being  a  necessity  for  the  occur- 
rence, it  is  not  impossible  for  a"  human  being  while  living  in  this 
world  to  have  intercourse  with  the  other.  But  before  further 
proceeding  with  the  subject,  it  may  not  be  amiss,  supposing  that 
there  are  those  who  have  heard  little  or  nothing  of  SAvedenborg, 
and  have  considered  him  as  an  ignorant  person  or  base  impostor, 
or  the  leader  of  a  sect  of  fanatics,  to  give  a  few  brief  citations, 
exhibitino-  the  estimation  in  winch  he  is  held  by  those  who  are 
capable  of  judging  him. 

*  See  Appendix. 


56  INFERENCES   EESPECTING   A    NEW    REVELATION. 

Coleridsfe  thus  remarks  concerninof  his  hterary,  scientific,  and 
theological  character,  the  extract  being  taken  from  vol.  iv.,  p.  44, 
of  his  Literary  Remains  : 

"  So  much,  even  from  a  very  partial  acquaintance  with  the 
works  of  Swedenborg,  I  can  venture  to  assert,  that,  as  a  natural- 
ist, psychologist,  and  theologian,  he  has  strong  and  varied  claims 
to  the  gratitude  and  admiration  of  the  professional  philosophical 
student."  In  another  work  he  says,  speaking  of  the  Economia 
Regni  Animalis,  "  I  remember  rothing  in  Lord  Bacon  superior, 
few  passages  equal,  either  in  depth  of  thought,  or  in  richness, 
dignity,  and  felicity  of  diction,  or  in  the  weightiness  of  the 
truths  contained  in  those  articles."  Concerning  the  charge  of  in- 
sanity brought  against  Swedenborg,  he  says,  "  0  thrice  happy 
should  we  be,  if  the  learned  and  the  teachers  of  the  present  age 
were  gifted  with  a  similar  madness — a  madness,  indeed,  celestial, 
and  flowing  from  a  divine  mind  !" 

To  show  the  value  of  Swedenborg's  "  Regnum  Minerale,"  and 
the  high  estimation  in  which  this  work  is  held,  we  quote  a  brief  ex- 
tract from  the  translation  of  Cramer's  Elements  of  the  Art  of  As- 
saying Metals,  by  Dr.  Cromwell  Mortimer,  Secretaiy  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  London :  "  For  the  sake  of  such  as  undei-stand  Latin," 
he  says,  "  we  must  not  pass  by  that  magnificent  and  laborious 
work  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  entitled  '  Principia  Reram  Xatura- 
lum,'  in  three  tomes,  folio.  In  the  second  and  thhd  volumes  of 
which  (these  embrace  his  mineral  kingdom)  he  has  given  the 
best  accounts,  not  only  of  the  method  and  newest  improvements 
in  metalhc  works  in  all  places  beyond  the  seas,  but  also  in  Eng- 
land and  oiu"  colonies  m  America,  with  drafts  of  the  furnaces  and 
instniments  employed.  It  is  to  be  wished  we  had  extracts  of 
this  Avork  in  English." 

R.  M.  Patterson,  late  professor  in  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, hi  a  letter  "\\Titten  to  Dr.  Atlee  respecting  the  Piincipia, 
another  of  SAvedenborg's  scientific  Avorks,  says :  "  The  Avork  of 
Swedenborg  Avhich  you  Avere  so  kind  to  put  into  my  hands  is  an 
extraordinary  production  of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men, 
certainly,  that  has  ever  lived."  After  stating,  among  other  things, 
that  he  should  like  to  peruse  it  further  before  lie  could  form  an 
opinion  of  it,  a  thing  not  to  be  done  in  a  fcAv  words,  he  con- 
tinues :  "  This  much,  hoAvever,  I  can  truly  say,  that  the  air  of 


TESTIMONY    OF   PROFESSOR   BUSH.  57 

mysticism  -which  is  generally  thought  to  pen-ade  Baron  Sweden- 
borg's  ethical  and  theological  writings,  has  prevented  philosophers 
from  paying  that  attention  to  his  physical  productions  of  which  I 
now  see  that  they  are  worthy.  Many  of  the  experiments  and 
observations  on  magnetism  presented  in  this  work  are  believed  to 
he  of  much  more  modern  date,  and  are  unjustly  ascribed  to  much 
more  recent  writers^ 

Professor  Bush,  professor  of  Hebrew  in  the  New  York  Univer- 
sity, remarks  as  follows  :  "  The  claims  of  Swedenborg  have  been 
widely  regarded  as  the  fi-uit  of  a  distempered  brain ;  the  com- 
placency, however,  with  which  this  estimate  has  been  entertained, 
has  of  late  been  somewhat  rudely  invaded  and  disturbed  by  the 
discoveiy  that  in  the  person  of  the  Swedish  Seer  stands  revealed, 
not  only  one  of  the  sublimest  geniuses  that  ever  adorned  the 
annals  of  science — a  worthy  compeer  of  Newton,  of  Bacon,  of 
Leibnitz,  of  Laplace,  of  Cuvier — a  man  of  the  most  stupendous 
attainments  in  every  sphere  of  knowledge,  of  analytic  perspicuity 
never  surpassed,  of  a  power  of  generalization  to  which  the  world 
has  not  seen  a  superior,  whose  writings  have  created  a  new  era 
in  physiological  research,  who  is  par  eminence  the  philosopher  of 
ends  and  causes,  who  solved  with  equal  ease  the  problems  of 
fluxions,  of  physiology,  of  anatomy,  of  chemistry,  of  metallurgy, 
of  mechanics,  and  of  finance ;  whose  intellectual  sports  were  the 
differential  calculus,  the  ascertainment  of  the  longitude,  the  mo- 
tion and  position  of  the  planets,  the  application  of  geometry  to 
chemistry  and  physics  ;  the  construction  of  ships,  docks,  and 
dykes,  the  invention  of  stoves,  and  the  depreciation  and  rise  of 
the  Swedish  currency ;  and,  finally,  who  is  beginning  to  receive 
the  honors  of  the  true  paternity  of  the  Kantian  philosophy,  of  the 
atomic  theory  of  Bosco\nsch  and  Dalton,  of  the  nebular  hypothe- 
sis in  astronomy,  and  of  many  of  the  grandest  discoveiies  of 
anatomical  science  of  more  modern  times.  All  this  the  world 
was  little  prepared  to  find  in  the  self-proclaimed  herald  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  and  yet  this  is  now  beginning  to  be  acknowl- 
edged as  a  due  concession  to  the  transcendent  mind  of  Sweden- 
borg." 

In  a  lecture  delivered  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  at  Boston, 
January  16,  1846,  we  find  him  saying  that  "no  single  man  car 
judge  of  Swedenborg's  various  works.     His  wisdom  can  hardly 


58  INFEEENCES    KESPECTING    A    NEW    KEVELATION. 

be  estimated.  He  anticipated  modem  discoveries  in  various 
sciences  :  in  astronomy,  the  discover}^  of  Herscliel ;  in  anatomy,  of 
Monroe.  .  .  .  In  his  edition  of  the 'Animal  Kingdom,' Wilkin- 
son magnanimously  lays  no  stress  on  his  inventions ;  he  was  too 
great  to  be  original."  After  some  further  description  of  the 
character  of  Swedenborg's  mind,  Mr.  Emerson  remarked,  that 
"  those  who  are  best  acquainted  with  his  writings  are  struck  with 
the  mass  of  his  powers,  as  belonging  to  the  Mastodons  and  Mis- 
sourians  of  literature,  who  are  not  to  be  measured  by  a  whole 
population  of  ordinarj^  scholars." — (See  Prof.  Bush's  Rejyly  to 
Emerson,  p.  V.) 

The  London  Monthly  Renew  for  1844  has  the  following: 

"  Of  the  discoveries  which  Swedenborg  made  in  chemistrj-, 
astronomy,  and  anatomy,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  in  language 
too  panegyrical.  According  to  the  Marquis  de  Thome,  who  ad- 
dressed some  remarks  to  the  commissioners  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  merits  of  animal  mafjnetism  by  the  King  of  France,  Swe- 
denborg was  the  first  who  offered  a  theory  on  the  magnet. 

"  It  woidd  appear,  from  the  Marquis'  showing,  that  the  first 
volume  alone  of  Swedenborg's  great  work  {Opera  Philosophica. 
et  Mineralia)  is  one  of  the  most  complete  and  profound  ever 
published.  Swedenborg  did  not  deal  in  generalities.  He  argued 
on  geometrical  principles,  remarking  (as  De  Thome  informs  us)  at 
p.  184  of  his  first  volume,  '  Unless  our  principles  be  geometrically 
and  mechanically  connected  Avith  experience,  they  are  mere  hal- 
lucinations and  idle  dreams.' 

"  We  have  at    length,  we   think,  placed  such 

acts  of  Swedenborg's  wonderful  powers  of  mind  before  the 
reader,  that  we  can  hardly  suppose  that  he  now  entertains  the 
same  opinion  of  that,  great  man  as  when  he  commenced  the  peru- 
sal of  this  article.  He  can  surely  no  longer  subscribe  to  the  fool- 
ish and  wicked  story  of  his  madness,  invented  by  one  Mathesius, 
a  Lutheran  minister,  who  afterwards  went  mad  himself  (see 
Documents,  p.  145,  et  ante  et  postea),  or  credit  the  report  of  his 
being  a  nsionary.  Visionaries  do  not  deal  in  geometry,  and  alge- 
bra, and  mathematics,  nor  do  they  make  great  discoveries  in  the 
brain. 

"  In  conclusion,  we  record  oiu-  opinion  positively,  and  not  rela- 
tively, wholly    and  without    reservation,   that  if  the    mode  of 


VARIOUS    TESTLMONTES.  59 

reasoning  and  explanation  adopted  by  Swedenborg  be  once  under- 
stood, the  anatomist  and  physiologist  Avill  acquire  more  informa- 
tion, and  obtain  a  more  comprehensive  view  of  the  human  body, 
and  of  its  relation  to  a  higher  sphere,  than  from  any  single  book 
ever  published  ;  nay,  we  may  add,  than  from  all  the  books  which 
have  been  written  (especially  in  modern  times)  on  physiology,  or, 
as  it  has  been  lately  named,  transcendental  anatomy. 

"  Swedenborg  reasons  not  on  any  hypothesis,  not  on  any  the- 
ory, not  on  any  favorite  doctiine  of  a  fashionable  school,  but  on 
the  solid  principles  of  geometiy  based  on  the  immutable  rock  of 
truth ;  and  he  must  and  will  be  considered  at  no  distant  period 
the  Zoroaster  of  Europe,  and  the  Prometheus  of  a  new  era  of 
reason,  however  at  present  the  clouds  of  prejudice  may  intervene, 
or  the  storms  of  passion  obscure  the  corascations  of  his  in- 
tellect." 

In  this  connection  we  extract  from  the  London  "  Forceps"  for 
Nov.,  1844,  the  following  concerning  Swedenborg's  "Animal 
Kingdom :" 

"  This  is  the  most  remarkable  theory  of  the  human  body  that 
has  ever  fallen  into  our  hands ;  and  by  Emanuel  Swedenborg, 
too  !  a  nian  whom  we  had  always  been  taught  to  regard  as  either 
a  fool,  a  madman,  or  an  impostor,  or  perhaps  an  undefinable  com- 
pound of  all  the  three.  Wonders,  it  seems,  never  icill  cease,  and 
therefore  it  Avere  better  henceforth  to  look  out  for  them,  and 
accept  them  whenever  they  present  themselves,  and  make  them 
into  ordinary  things  in  that  way.  For  thereby  we  may  be  saved 
from  making  wonderful  asses  of  ourselves  and  our  craft,  for  en- 
lightened posterity  to  laugh  at. 

"  To  return  to  our  book,  we  can  honestly  assure  our  readers 
(which  is  more  than  it  would  be  safe  to  do  in  all  cases),  that 
we  have  carefully  read  through  both  volumes  of  it,  bulky  though 
they  be,  and  have  gained  much  philosophical  insight  from  it  into 
the  chain  of  ends  and  causes  that  govern  in  the  human  organism. 
What  has  the  world  been  doing  for  the  past  centmy,  to  let  this 
great  system  slumber  on  the  shelf,  and  to  run  after  a  host  of  lit- 
tle blue  bottles  of  hypotheses  which  were  never  framed  to  Hve 
for  more  than  a  short  part  of  a  single  season  ?  It  is  clear  that  it 
yet  knows  nothing  of  its  greatest  men !  The  fact  is,  it  has  been 
making  money,  or  tiying  to  make  it,  and  grubbing  after  worth- 


60  IKFEEENCES    RESPECTING    A    NEW    REVELATION. 

less  reputation,  until  it  has  lost  its  eyesight  for  the  stars  of  heav- 
en and  the  sun  that  is  shining-  above  it. 

"  Emanuel  Swedenborg's  doctrine  is  altogether  the  widest 
thing  of  the  kind  which  medical  literature  affords,  and  cast  into 
an  artistical  shape  of  consummate  beauty.  Under  the  rich  drapery 
of  ornament  which  diversifies  his  pages  there  inins  a  frame-work 
of  the  truest  reasoning.  The  book  is  a  perfect  mine  of  principles, 
far  exceeding  in  intellectual  wealth,  and  surpassing  in  elevation, 
the  finest  efforts  of  Lord  Bacon's  genius.  It  treats  of  the  loftiest 
subjects  without  abstruseness,  being  all  ultimately  referable  to 
the  common  sense  of  mankind.  UnUke  the  German  transcenden- 
talists,  this  gifted  Swede  fulfils  both  the  requisites  of  the  true 
philosopher :  he  is  one  to  whom  the  lowest  things  ascend  and 
the  highest  descend,  'who  is  the  equal  and  kindly  brother 
of  all.'  There  is  no  trifling  about  him,  but  he  sets  forth  his 
opinions,  irrespective  of  controversy,  with  a  plainness  of  aflfirmation 
which  cannot  be  mistaken ;  and  in  such  close  and  direct  tenns, 
that  to  give  a  full  idea  of  his  system  in  other  words  Avould  require 
that  we  lesser  men  should  write  larger  volumes  than  his  own." 

From  the  American  press  we  select,  from  the  many  citations 
which  might  be  given,  the  following  from  the  New  York  Tribune 
of  January,  1850:* 

"  The  advent  of  a  man  like  Swedenborg  is  a  problem  not  to  be 
solved  by  any  cursory  observations.  He  presents  too  manv,  and, 
upon  the  first  superficial  view,  contradictoiy  phases,  to  be  easily 
classed  among  the  rare  and  cimous  specimens  of  psychological 
history.  It  is  idle  to  attempt  setting  him  aside  as  a  mere  reli- 
gious fanatic,  a  vain  dreamer  of  dreams  and  seer  of  visions  in  the 
spiritual  world,  and  claiming  an  access  to  spheres  beyond  the 
material  universe  from  Avhich  man  is  precluded  by  the  essential 
conditions  of  his  being ;  for  granting  him  to  have  been  all  this, 
he  was  yet  something  more,  and  much  more :  a  man  of  various 
and  profound  scientific  attainments,  an  acute  observer  of  Nature, 
an  original  and  ingenious  analyzer  of  the  most  complicated  phe- 
nomena, the  author  of  a  copious  library  of  volumes  filled  with 
prolific  germs  of  thought,  bold  and  startling  suggestions,  and  hints 
of  valuable  discovery,  all  of  which  gain  fresh  importance  with 

every  time  development  of  science 

*  Jan.  19,  No.  2734. 


swedenbokg's  noij-performance  of  miracles.       61 

"  Never  was  there  a  man  more  free  from  the  kist  of  prosely- 
tism.  He  used  no  efforts  to  gather  followers  around  Mm.  He 
calmly  recorded  in  a  book  the  visions  with  Avhich  he  believed 
that  he  had  been  favored.  He  took  no  measures  to  make  them 
extensively  known.  With  a  sublime  confidence  in  truth,  he  left 
them  to  make  their  way  in  the  world  by  their  inherent  force. 
So  far  as  they  presented  revelations  in  accordance  with  the  per- 
manent laws  of  the  universe,  he  was  certain  of  their  triumph. 
For  any  other  success  than  this  he  had  no  desire.  In  the  usual 
sense  of  the  word,  Swedenboi-g  can  scarcely  even  be  called  a 
theologian.  His  intellectual  tastes  led  him  to  eschew  barren 
speculation.  His  chief  interest  was  in  the  investigation  of  facts, 
and  especially  of  the  laws  which  form  their  substantial  essence 
and  being.  In  spite  of  the  apparently  visionary  dress  in  which 
they  are  arrayed,  his  writings  have  a  body,  a  sinewy,  muscular 
frame-work,  which  gives  you  the  assurance  that  you  are  dealing 
with  solid,  tangible  realities.  No  one  can  even  dip  into  his 
treatise  on  Physiology  without  being  impressed  with  the  breadth 
and  comprehensiveness  of  his  Aiews  concerning  tlie  animal  econo- 
my. They  are  not  the  vagaries  of  a  dreamer,  but  the  produc- 
tions of  calm  and  intense  thought.  Few  works  are  so  irresistibly 
provocative  of  reflection  in  the  reader.  Whatever  errors  a  deeper 
scientific  analysis  may  detect  in  his  statements,  it  can  never  be 
denied  that  they  are  radiant  with  the  light  of  universal  law,  and 
breathe  a  spirit  of  genuine  vitality  over  the  dry  and  withered 
masses  of  unsystematized  facts  which  have  so  often  been  mistaken 
for  somid  learning.  Swedenborg,  then,  must  be  regarded  as  too 
mighty  a  fact  in  himself  to  be  justly  explained  either  by  skeptics 
or  sectarians.  The  fanaticism  of  credulity  and  the  fanaticism  of 
unbelief  are  equally  impotent  to  adjust  his  claims  to  the  venera- 
tion of  mankind." 

We  have  gone  thus  far  in  giving  some  idea  concerning  Swe- 
denborg's  scientific  attainments  and  the  estimation  in  which  he  is 
held  ;  and  it  is  shown  that  we  are  not  to  class  him  with  the  mere 
visionary  and  leader  of  an  ignorant  sect  of  fanatics,  or  with  vari- 
ous pei'sons  who  at  diffei-ent  periods  have  made  similar  assertions, 
but  that  at  the  present  era  and  state  of  religion  his  solemn  affir- 
mations demand  every  consideration. 

The  next  inquiry  which  arises  is,  What  miracles  did  he  perform 


(iJ  IXFEKKNCES    KESPECTING    A    NEW    KEVELATION. 

to  evince  that  he  was  a  divine  messenger,  and  that  his  interpreta- 
tions of  the  Scriptures  should  be  considered  as  an  authority  and 
pre-eminent  above  all  others?  Swedenborg  in  regard  to  this 
is  singular,  and  milike  all  those  who  have  called  mankind  to  wit- 
ness that  they  had  wrought  miracles  to  prove  that  they  were 
supernaturally  endowed,  asserts  to  the  contrary,  and  informs  us 
that  he  has  no  miracles  to  bring  forward  to  evince  the  truth  of 
his  assertions,  and  that  they  can  be  demonstrated  only  by  their 
rationality  and  agreement  with  the  Scriptures. 

It  is  believed  that  his  \'iews  are  not  without  foundation ;  and 
to  examine  them,  let  us  inquire  into  the  nature  of  a  miracle.  A 
miracle,  as  generally  understood,  is  an  event  which  transcends 
nature  ;  and  the  power  of  working  miracles  was  given  to  the  Apos- 
tles to  prove  they  were  not  false  prophets,  and  was  used  as  an 
irresistible  argument  to  fall  back  upon  when  other  methods  failed. 
The  case  being  somewhat  similar  to  those  instances  where  an  edu- 
cated white  man  has  gone  among  a  tribe  of  ignorant  savages,  and  by 
foretelling  eclipses  and  exhibiting  marvels,  has  caused  them  to  be- 
lieve that  he  Avas  a  supernatural  being.  That  tliis  was  the  method 
of  acting  upon  the  minds  of  men  in  primitive  times  is  also  shown 
from  the  Scriptures.  Thus  we  read  that  when  the  Israelites  had 
lapsed  into  idolatries  they  left  the  worship  of  the  tnxe  God  and 
fell  down  before  the  image  of  Baal ;  and  the  only  manner  in  which 
the  prophet  Elijah  could  prevent  their  idolatry  was,  not  by  rea- 
soning with  them  on  the  absurdity  of  worshipping  a  block  of 
stone,  bvit  by  challenging  the  priests  of  Baal  to  a  trial  of  their 
power  in  working  Avonders,  and  agreeing  that  if  they  could  per- 
form a  greater  miracle  than  he,  then  Baal  should  be  wor- 
shipped. Thus  it  is  said  that  "  Elijah  came  imto  all  the  people 
and  said,  How  long  halt  ye  between  two  opinions  ?  if  the  Lord 
be  God,  follow  him  ;  but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him.  Let  the  priests 
of  Baal  give  us  two  bullocks ;  and  let  them  choose  one  bullock 
for  themselves,  and  cut  it  into  pieces  and  lay  it  on  wood,  and  put 
no  fire  under ;  and  I  will  dress  the  other  bullock  and  lay  it  on 
wood,  and  put  no  fire  under ;  and  call  ye  on  the  name  of  your 
gods,  and  I  will  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  and  the  God  that 
answereth  by  fire,  let  him  be  God.  And  all  the  people  answered 
and  said,  It  is  well  spoken."^*  It  is  known  that  in  the  trial  Elijah 
*  1  Kings,  xviii.  21. 


MIRACLES    NOT   NOW    NEEDED.  63 

triumphed  over  the  priests  of  Baal,  and  tire  appeared  where  there 
was  none  before ;  and  the  people,  Avhen  they  saw  it,  were  convin- 
ced that  the  God  of  Elijah  was  the  true  Deity,  and  superior  to 
the  sculptured  idol. 

In  this  case  it  is  evident,  considering  the  other  circumstances, 
that  fear  was  the  leading  cause  of  their  belief,  and  that  little  use 
was  made  of  their  rational  powers,  except  in  the  same  manner  as 
ts  done  by  savages  on  occasions  of  a  similar  nature.  It  is  also 
evident  that  tlie  belief  thus  taught  was  not  like  one  which  is 
rationally  understood,  but  was  of  the  most  transitory  and  fleet- 
ing nature.  This  is  evinced  by  the  conduct  of  the  children  of 
Israel,  who,  notwithstanding  the  greatest  of  miracles  had  been 
wrought,  after  a  short  time  erected  a  golden  calf  and  wor- 
shipped it. 

Now  it  can  be  seen  from  what  has  been  said  that  there  is  force 
in  Swedenborg's  assertion  that  he  has  no  miracles  to  produce  to 
evince  the  truth  of  his  claims ;  for  we  ask.  Would  they  not  be 
wholly  unsuitable  at  the  present  age  ?  Are  the  people  so  bar- 
barous and  ignorant  that  they  require  a  Christian  priest  to  come 
forward  and  perform  some  wondrous  feat  to  convince  them  that 
they  should  not  worship  a  hideous  idol  ?  It  is  not  so.  There 
are  those  in  whom  the  great  truths  concerning  God  and  immor- 
tality are  too  deeply  inscribed  to  require  such  proof. 

But  there  are  other  reasons  which  clearly  evince  that  the  work- 
ing of  miracles  at  the  present  day  would  be  wholly  inapplicable, 
and  that  if  in  reality  wrought  they  would  be  doubted  and  ridi- 
culed, and  if  repeatedly  performed  would  be  attributed  to  na- 
ture, and  by  their  frequency  would  create  no  more  surprise  than 
an  ordinary  phenomenon.  A  writer  on  this  subject  very  cor- 
rectly remarks,  that  "  a  man  working  miracles  at  the  present  pe- 
riod would  be  considered  as  a  mountebank,  and  would  not  be 
respected  much  more  even  by  those  who  believed  his  miracles 
real."  He  adds,  "  Would  not  the  cures  he  might  perform  be 
resolved  into  collusion,  or,  Avhen  this  was  proved  impossible,  be 
interpi'eted  as  the  agency  of  unknown  natural  causes,  or  that 
power  which  modern  infidelity  has  invested  with  omnipotence, 
the  magic  power  of  imagination  ?"  The  truth  of  these  observ^a- 
tions  can  be  readily  seen,  and  it  is  confirmed  in  the  parable 
of  Lazarus.     The  rich  man  says  :  "  I  beseech  thee,  father  Abra- 


64  INFERENCES    RESPECTIJSG    A    NEW    REVELATION. 

liain,  that  thou  wouldst  send  Lazaiiis  to  my  father's  house,  for 
T  have  five  brethren,  tliat  he  may  testify  to  them,  lest  they  also 
come  into  this  place  of  torment.  Abraham  said  to  him,  They 
have  Moses  and  the  prophets,  let  them  believe  them  ;  but  he  said, 
Nay,  father  Abraham,  but  if  one  from  the  dead  came  to  them 
they  would  repent.  He  answered  him.  If  they  hear  not  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded  if  one  rose  from 
the  dead." 

From  this  parable  we  readily  infer  that  miracles  at  the  pres- 
ent age  would  be  useless,  and  that  the  skeptic  of  the  nineteenth 
century  would  not  be  persuaded  even  if  one  rose  from  the  dead ; 
for  it  will  be  admitted  that  this  teaching  was  not  intended  for  the 
Israelites  alone,  but  for  all  nations  and  people,  and  at  all  periods. 

That  miracles  would  be  useless  at  the  present  era,  is  also  clear 
from  the  consideration,  that  if  they  could  perform  uses  they 
would  be  given ;  but  as  they  are  not  wrought,  we  are  at  liberty 
to  conclude  that  Divine  Wisdom  does  not  see  them  to  be  necessaiy. 

If  none  were  to  be  believed  in  except  those  who  have  wrought 
mii-acles,  then  many  would  be  doubted  who  are  now  held  in  high 
estimation ;  for  the  Scriptures  inform  us  that  few  of  the  proph- 
ets worked  miracles,  and  of  St.  John  none  is  recorded.  And,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  all  to  be  received  as  divine  messengers  be- 
cause they  had  wrought  miracles,  then  should  Ave  be  compelled 
to  listen  to  those  of  the  worst  character ;  for  sacred  history  re- 
lates that  miracles  have  been  wrought  in  confirmation  of  false- 
hoods :  as,  for  instance,  by  the  magicians  of  Egypt,  the  Witch  of 
Endor,  and  by  Satan  in  the  time  of  Christ's  temptations.  These 
cases  have  every  peculiarity  of  a  supernatural  origin ;  and  if  we 
look  at  the  present  time  for  occurrences  of  this  nature,  they  can 
be  found ;  and  following  the  rule  of  Orthodoxy,  we  might  be  led 
to  believe  those  persons  to  be  prophets  who  by  the  laijing  on  of 
hands  can  heal  the  sick,  render  the  body  insensible  to  the  se- 
verest pain,  and  do  other  things  of  a  still  more  wonderful  nature. 
That  there  are  those  who  are  thus  deluded  by  the  extraoi-dinary 
phenomena  which  the  age  has  brought  to  light,  is  evinced  by  the 
Mormons ;  for  it  is  known  that  the  leaders  of  that  sect  do  these 
things  to  confirm  their  teachings,  and  prove,  like  the  prophets  of 
old,  their  inspiration. 

Swedenborg  informs  us  that  miracles  were  wrought  in  the 


swedenborg's  claims.  65 

time  of  the  Jews,  that  the  Christian  religion  might  be  introduced 
and  formed,  and  it  has  since  been  left  to  man's  rationality  and 
free-will  to  decide  upon  the  truth  of  the  Christian  dispensation. 
Dr.  Young  confirms  Swedenborg's  views,  and  informs  us  that 
miracles  are  the  relics  of  a  barbarous  age,  and  "  an  implicit  satire 
on  mankind,  and  Avhile  it  satisfies  it  censures  too." 

But  without  further  comment,  we  think  sufficient  has  been  said 
to  show  that  in  the  present  age  of  reason  and  individual  investi- 
gation, the  mere  fact  that  Swedenborg  worked  no  miracles  is  no 
proof,  other  things  being  satisfactory,  that  his  claims  should  not 
be  examined ;  and  with  many  it  is  considered  in  his  favor,  it  be- 
ino-  thought  that  if  he  was  an  impostor  he  would  have  taken  the 
usual  course  adopted  by  false  pi'ophets,  and  that  his  claims  re- 
ceive confirmation  from  his  not  ha\-ing  recourse  to  them. 

Having  arrived  thus  far  in  our  observations,  it  may  not  be  alto- 
gether useless  to  exhibit  the  manner  in  which  we  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  writings  of  the  philosopher  of  Sweden. — It 
occurred  some  years  since,  and  at  a  time  when  we  were  engaged 
in  an  examination  of  the  Scriptures  without  comment  or  gloss. 
Being  unable  to  pierce  the  first  great  mystery  concerning  the 
Fall,  and  other  enigmas  equally  difficult,  we  were  lost  in  doubt ; 
when  seemingly  by  mere  accident,  a  friend  recommended  us  to 
read  Swedenborg's  explanations  of  the  Sacred  Writings.  Though 
at  the  time  we  believed  him  a  visionary,  yet  we  were  prevailed 
Tipon  to  purchase  a  volume  of  his  works.  On  perusing  it,  we 
were  struck  vnih  the  peciiliarity  of  the  style,  and  were  pleased  to 
see  that  we  had  met  mth  a  theologian  who  iuA-ited  the  reader  to 
use  his  rational  powers  concerning  the  Scriptures  and  the  attri- 
butes of  the  Deity  as  he  did  in  regard  to  any  other  subject. 
His  other  writings  were  procured,  and  we  gave  a  diligent  exami- 
nation to  his  interpretations  of  the  Holy  Oracles.  We  have  seen 
all  the  objections  that  have  been  brought  against  him,  and  are 
aware  of  the  magnitude  of  his  claims,  yet  notwithstanding  are 
convinced  of  their  truth  ;  indeed,  we  can  but  consider  it  as  an  era 
in  our  life  when  providentially  we  were  permitted  to  peruse  them. 
And  of  all  the  wonderful  features  and  phenomena  of  the  nine- 
teenth centurv,  the  writings  of  the  Swedish  psychologist  stand 
preeminent. 

5 


66  IXFKKENCES   KESPECTING    A   NEW    KEVEXATION. 

We  find  in  them  a  fixed  and  permanent  method  of  interpreting 
the  Word,  which  coincides  with  what  it  is  admitted  should  com- 
pose the  attributes  of  the  Deity,  and  correspond  ^vith  the  dis- 
coveries of  modern  science.  They  supply,  moreover,  a  long-felt 
desideratum :  to  wit,  an  explanation  of  the  Scriptures  so  clear 
and  simple  as  to  be  easily  comprehended  by  the  most  unlettered 
mind,  and  which  comprises  all  the  essentials  of  the  great  truths 
of  Christianity.  This  Swedenborg  has  given,  and  at  the  same 
time  developed  truths  which  require  for  then-  perfect  comprehen- 
sion the  profoundest  intellect ;  and  no  more  can  the  savan  affirm, 
as  has  been  said  by  the  learned  skeptic,  that  the  Scriptures  are 
for  the  simple ;  for  it  is  now  shown  that  the  natural  and  scrip- 
tural sciences  go  hand  in  hand,  and  that  to  understand  their  ar- 
cana one  must  be  a  proficient  in  all  branches  of  human  knowledge. 

Our  eminent  authority  informs  us,  that  the  emblematical  and 
figurative  language  of  the  prophets  has  contained  within  it  that 
inner  sense  Avhich  was  so  much  sought  after  by  Origen  and  other 
primitive  writers.  It  is  asserted  that  there  is  no  part  of  the  Old 
Testament  but  what  is  of  the  greatest  importance.  An  explana- 
tion is  also  given  concerning  free  agency,  and  other  enigmas 
which  for  so  many  ages  have  perplexed  and  baffled  the  wisest ; 
and  the  different  subjects  are  exhibited  in  a  ru^inner  worthy  of  the 
universal  Father,  and  leave  little  or  nothing  wantinsf. 

Let  it  be  admitted  there  is  a  necessity  for  a  new  dispensation 
of  truth,  a  necessity  that  the  Scriptures  should  disclose  their 
revelations  ■with  new  light  and  beauty,  then  we  do  not  see  how^ 
would  be  possible  for  the  Divine  Providence  to  select  an  instru- 
ment more  suitable  for  such  a  purpose  than  Emanuel  Sweden- 
borg ;  for  it  is  essential,  if  such  means  are  adopted,  that  the  one 
selected  should  not  only  be  a  man  of  sterling  integrity  of  charac- 
ter, but  at  the  same  time  possessed  of  pre-eminent  talents.  In 
fornier  periods,  Avhen  the  Supreme  Ruler  has  manifested  himself 
by  the  medium  of  a  human  instrument,  he  has  chosen  those  who 
were  uneducated — prophets  who  were  able  only  to  speak  in  a 
dark  and  enigmatical  manner ;  but  such  men  would  have  been 
wholly  unsuitable  for  the  era  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  if  ap- 
pearing would  neither  have  been  heard  nor  respected.  But  such, 
we  need  not  say,  was  not  the  case  with  Swedenborg ;  for  at  the 
time  when  he  came  forward  as  a  seer,  he  was  held  in  the  same 


QUALIFICATIONS    OF   SWEDENBORG.  67 

estimation  as  was  Benjamin  Franklin  in  this  country ;  and  was 
universally  known  among  the  learned  of  Em'ope  as  one  of  the 
first  philosophers  of  the  age,  a  profound  thinker,  and  one  who 
had  taken  every  branch  of  science  under  his  culture  and  protec- 
tion. And  if  his  moral  character  is  examined,  it  will  be  found  to 
be  unlike  that  of  an  impostor,  and  without  stain.  Even  his  most 
violent  opposers  have  never  had  aught  to  say  against  him  in  this 
respect ;  and  if  his  private  life  is  further  scrutinized,  it  will  be 
found  that  not  only  Avas  he  a  man  of  prayer,  and  felt  for  those 
afflicted  and  strove  to  relieve  them,  but  at  the  same  time  was 
endowed  with  a  rare  spirit  of  humility,  self-love  forming  little  or 
no  part  of  his  nature. 

Those  impostors  who  have  at  various  times  appeared  and  as- 
serted for  themselves  a  divine  mission,  "  have  universally  made 
little  use  of  reason,  and  in  all  their  preaching  and  conversation  on 
I'eligious  subjects,  pour  out  with  eagerness  the  dictates  of  passion 
and  imagination,  and  never  attempt  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
facts  or  arguments  in  Avhich  reason  delights  to  rest.  Strong  pic- 
tures, vehement  effusions  of  passion,  violent  exclamation,  loudly 
vociferated  and  imperiously  enjoined  as  objects  of  implicit  faith 
and  obedience,  constitute  the  substance  of  their  addres.ses  to  man- 
kind. They  themselves  believe  because  they  believe,  and  know 
because  they  know.  Their  conviction,  instead  of  being,  as  it  ought 
to  be,  the  reswlt  of  evidence,  is  the  result  of  feeling  merely.  If 
you  attempt  to  persuade  them  that  they  are  in  an  error,  by 
reasoning,  facts,  and  proofs,  they  regard  you  with  a  mixture  of 
pity  and  contempt." 

But  how  contrary  to  all  this  is  the  conduct  of  Swedenborg ! 
When  a  proof  of  his  mission  Avas  demanded,  he  invariably  ap- 
pealed to  facts  and  arguments,  and  it  is  probable  that  there  never 
lived  a  writer  Avho  more  continually  calls  upon  the  reader  to 
make  use  of  his  reflective  faculties.  Indeed,  it  is  one  of  the 
marked  peculiarities  of  that  dispensation  of  which  he  asserts  that 
he  is  the  forei-unner,  that  no  one  can  enter  it  blindly,  or  other- 
wise than  by  the  use  of  his  noblest  powers.  So  far  from  Sweden- 
borg being  an  enthusiast,  there  is  nothing  hke  enthusiasm  to  be 
found  in  his  writings  :  even  in  those  descriptions  in  Avhich  it  would 
be  supposed  that  if  anywhere  he  would  show  himself  to  be  the 
enthusiast,  and  allow  his  imagination  to  gain  the  ascendency,  and 


68  INFERENCES   KESPECTING   A   NEW   KEVELATION. 

pamt  the  subject  in  the  most  glowing  and  vi^^d  colors,  he  is  as 
calm  and  collected  as  if  describing  the  most  ordinary  occurrences 
of  life. 

If  Svvedenborg  had  asserted  that  the  Bible  was  not  the  work 
of  inspiration,  or  if  he  had  attempted  to  destroy  any  of  those 
fundamental  truths  upon  which  the  Christian  religion  is  based, 
and  particularly  that  which  has  the  greatest  influence  on  the 
minds  of  men,  namely,  a  belief  in  the  righteous  moral  government 
of  God,  and  a  state  of  reward  and  punishment  hereafter,  then 
might  his  claims  have  been  disbelieved.  But  he  has  written 
nothing  which  will  bear  this  interpretation,  and  so  far  from  doubt- 
ing the  authenticity  of  the  Scriptures,  or  vieA\-ing  them  in  the 
light  in  which  many  theologians  at  the  present  day  do,  he  has 
boldly  come  out  in  their  defence,  and  devoted  his  vast  learning 
and  talents  to  uphold  them ;  and  we  do  not  think  that  there  can 
be  found  a  writer  who  so  repeatedly  asserts  that  the  Bible  is  in- 
deed the  Word  of  God,  and  inspired  to  its  most  minute  letter. 
Respect  for  it  as  the  Holy  of  Hohes,  and  as  a  volume  such  as  the 
world  never  before  saw,  he  teaches  to  be  one  of  the  first  duties 
of  man. 

It  has  been  said  by  his  opposers  that  he  set  up  his  revelations 
in  preference  to  those  of  the  Holy  Oracles ;  but  never  was  a 
greater  falsity  made  known,  for  what  he  has  written  is  but  an 
explanation  or  commentary  on  the  Bible,  and  a  confirmation  of 
its  eternal  truths.  The  difference  between  the  Swedish  psy- 
chologist's writings  and  those  of  the  Bible  is  great  indeed ;  for 
the  one  is  written  in  an  allearorical  and  fig^urative  manner,  and 
has  within  it  a  double  meaning — a  natm-al  and  a  spiritual  sense ; 
but  in  the  other  nothing  of  the  kind  can  be  found,  and  its  lan- 
guage is  composed,  and  its  words  are  to  be  understood,  like  those 
of  any  other  volume. 

The  Scriptures  inform  us  that  in  the  latter  ages  false  prophets 
shall  appear,  who,  if  possible,  shall  deceive  the  very  elect ;  and  at 
the  same  time  a  rule  is  given  by  which  their  claims  may  be 
tested.  The  apostle  says,  "Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit, 
but  try  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of  God :  because  many  false 
prophets  are  gone  out  into  the  world.  Hereby  know  ye  the 
Spirit  of  God :  Every  spirit  that  confesseth  not  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  come  in  the  flesh  is  not  of  God  ;  and  this  is  that  spirit  of  Anti- 


OBJECTI».»N    ANSWERED.  69 

Christ  whereof  ye  have  heard  that  it  should  come,  and  even  now 
is  already  in  the  world." 

Swedenborg,  tried  by  this  ordeal,  comes  out  like  fine  gold  in 
the  hands  of  the  assayer,  more  truthful  and  brilliant;  for  he, 
above  all  othei-s,  testifies  to  the  divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  asserts  that  to  confirm  this  great  truth,  and  to  bring  to  a 
close  the  seemingly  interminable  disputes  in  reference  to  the  sub- 
ject, was  one  of  the  chief  reasons  for  which  he  was  sent. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  if  it  be  true  that  Swedenborg,  like 
John  the  Baptist,  is  the  forerunner  of  a  new  dispensation,  the 
basis  of  a  second  great  Christian  Church,  Avhich  is  to  be  the 
crown  of  all  churches,  and  from  which  is  to  proceed  the  river 
of  the  water  of  life  that  shall  be  for  the  healing  of  the  nations, 
then  why  is  not  more  known  concerning  the  subject,  and  the 
glad  tidings  disseminated  ?  To  this  we  reply,  that  a  variety 
of  causes  have  hitherto  prevented  the  new  dispensation  from 
spreading;  one  is,  that  the  minds  of  the  majority  are  preju- 
diced against  the  subject,  and  the  mere  announcement  that  a  new 
revelation  of  truth  has  been  given  is  sufficient  to  condemn  the 
whole  matter.  So  long  a  period  has  elapsed  since  the  Deity  has 
manifested  himself,  as  in  times  of  old,  through  human  instru- 
ments, that  it  is  almost  deemed  an  impossibility  ;  and  with  mul- 
titudes no  argument  to  this  effect  could  have  any  weight.  It  is 
well  known  how  far  the  Jews  allowed  their  prejudices  to  carry 
them  when  the  little  band  of  disciples  attempted  to  disseminate 
the  traths  of  the  Christian  religion.  They  were  treated  with 
scorn,  called  enthusiasts,  the  followers  of  a  false  prophet,  and  ac- 
cused of  persuading  men  contrary  to  the  law,  it  being  denied  that 
there  was  necessity  for  a  new  revelation  ;  yet  time  has  shown  that 
what  they  taught,  incredible  as  it  appeared  to  the  Pharisees,  was 
the  truth  of  heaven,  and  if  our  distinguished  authority  can  be  re- 
lied upon,  there  are  multitudes  who  stand  in  the  same  light  as 
the  Jews  then  did ;  and  the  new  dispensation  can  only  be  ex- 
pected to  spread  itself  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  ages  Avill 
be  required  for  it  to  take  that  rank  and  be  held  in  that  estima- 
tion to  which  it  is  claimed  to  be  entitled. 

Thus  far  its  progress  has  been  rapid  as  could  be  expected. 
Commencing  with  a  few,  it  has  made  a  slow  but  sure  advance, 
and  now  numbers  its  thousands ;  and  under  its  banner  are  to  be 


70  INFERENCES    RESPECTING    A    NEW    REVELATION. 

found  some  of  the  most  eminent  and  educated  minds  of  Europe 
and  our  own  country.  And  this  fact  alone  is  sufficient  to  evince 
that  it  is  not  one  of  the  impositions  of  the  day,  for  if  it  were,  Avhy 
should  so  many  educated  men  be  carried  away  with  it  ?  History 
records  no  sucli  instance,  and  all  who  have  been  deluded  by  the 
false  prophets  appearing  at  various  epochs,  have  been  men  of  de- 
ficient reflective  faculties,  of  unbalanced  minds,  or  grossly  ignorant 
and  superstitious. 

In  this  country  the  belief  has  not  made  so  rapid  progress  as  in 
some  parts  of  England,  where  it  originated,  yet  some  of  ovir  clergy 
have,  after  becoming  acquainted  with  the  system,  been  so  con- 
vinced of  its  truth  and  importance  that  they  have  given  up 
lucrative  situations,  and  exposed  themselves  to  every  inconveni- 
ence that  they  might  be  able  to  disseminate  it.  There  are  others 
who  know  little  or  nothing  of  Swedenborg  except  through  the 
misstatements  of  his  opposers.  It  would  be  a  severe  trial  for  a 
CathoUc,  having  a  profitable  situation,  to  give  up  his  charge, 
even  though  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  Protestant  religion ; 
and  if  President  Olin's  testimony  can  be  relied  upon,  there  are 
those  of  other  faiths  than  the  Catholic  who  reason  in  the  same 
manner  in  regard  to  Swedenborg's  writings,  and  either  wholly 
neglect  them,  or,  if  reading,  take  from  the  golden  urn  without 
acknowledgment,  and  use  as  their  own. 

Another  cause  why  the  New  Church  writings  are  not  received, 
is  the  pecuHar  manner  in  which  religious  and  theological  sub- 
jects are  taught,  especially  that  the  Scriptures  are  to  be  inter- 
preted solely  according  to  the  sense  of  the  letter.  But  the  chief 
obstacle  to  their  reception  is  the  gross  materialism  of  the  age. 
Many  of  the  present  day  have  not  only  been  nurtured  in  the 
belief  that  the  existence  of  spirits  is  doubtful,  but  are  even  prone 
to  ridicule  the  belief.  Morell,  in  his  View  of  the  Speculative 
Philosophy  of  Europe  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  informs  us, 
that  skepticism  exists  to  such  an  extent  in  Great  Britain,  that 
"a  state  of  moral  perfection  is  by  many  considered  a  thing 
altogether  transcendental ;  and  as  for  immortality,  it  is  a  boon 
which  may  be  long  to  be  realized,  but  the  reality  of  which  is  by 
no  means  clear  and  certain."*     From  such  a  state  of  things  it  is 

*  Vol.  ii.,  p.  585. 


^VDDITIONAL   TESTIMONIKS.  71 

very  e\'ident  that,  granting  the  New  Church  writings  are  all  that 
they  are  claimed  to  be,  they  Avould  not  be  admitted,  or  that 
attention  paid  them  to  which  they  are  entitled. 

"  Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  contradictory  views 
which  are  taken  of  the  doctrine  of  Swedenborg,  even  by  learned 
and  eminent  men.  A  late  prelate  of  the  Church  of  England  de- 
nounced them  as  preposterous  and  heretical,  and  in  so  doing  was 
countenanced  by  other  members  of  the  chixrch ;  yet  the  late 
Bishop  Porteus,  who  Avas  distinguished  for  botli  his  piety  and 
his  learning,  publicly  sanctioned  the  preaching  of  these  doctrines, 
and  in  the  following  words  encouraged  a  clergyman  to  continue 
to  disseminate  them :  '  I  see  no  particular  objection  to  the  ideas 
which  you  have  stated,  and  which  come  recommended  to  my 
own  mind  by  the  consideration  that  they  were  the  ideas  of  an 
intimate  and  learned  friend  of  niine,  for  whose  opinion  and  sound 
judgment  I  must  ever  entertain  the  highest  respect.'  The  author 
of  the  continuation  of  Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  after 
giving  a  summarv  of  Swedenborg's  doctinnes  of  the  Trinity  and 
Atonement,  remai-ks,  '  In  substance,  perhaps,  there  is  no  great 
difference  between  this  and  the  ordinary  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.'  " 

In  the  Penny  Cyclopaedia  it  is  stated,  that  "  in  Great  Britain 
the  non-separatist  Swedenborgians  comprise  many  members  and 
even  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  Rev.  Thomas 
Hartlej",  rector  of  Winwick,  in  Northampton ;  the  Rev.  John 
Clowes,  rector  of  St.  John,  Manchester ;  and  the  Rev.  William 
Hall,  of  Manchester,  were  the  first  translators  of  the  large  works  of 
Swedenborg."  His  Principia  has  been  translated  from  the  Latin, 
in  which  it  was  written,  by  the  Rev.  Augustus  Chssold,  as  have 
also  several  other  of  his  scientific  Avorks  by  J.  J.  G.  Wilkinson, 
member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  London.  In  the  Lives 
of  Eminent  Artists,  it  is  stated  that  Flaxman,  the  sculptor,  was  a 
receiver  of  the  New  Church  doctrine. 

"  In  France  the  doctrine  has  excited  much  attention,  partly 
through  the  writings  of  his  eloquent  disciple,  Richer,  of  Nantes, 
and  through  the  French  translations  of  Swedenborg's  works,  which 
were  executed  by  J.  P.  Moet  and  published  by  John  Augustus 
Talk.  In  Germany  (and  Switzerland)  Swedenborg  has  long  had 
isolated  readers  (among  others  the  learned  and  pious  Oberlin)  : 
the  now  most  celebrated  is  the  librarian  to  the  Kiny-  of  Wirtem- 


72  INFEKENCES   KESl'ECTING    A    NEW    KEVELATION. 

buro-,  Dr.  J.  F.  L.  Tafel,  known  through  Germany  for  his  learned 
editions  of  the  original  works  of  Swedenborg,  for  his  translation 
of  the  same,  and  for  the  elaborate  works  published  in  their  de- 
fence." 

In  Sweden,  bishops  and  doctors  of  the  Lvxtheran  Church  have 
favored  the  claims  of  Swedenborg.  In  our  own  country  it  is 
stated  that  the  members  of  the  New  Chui-ch  are  numerous  and 
well  organized.  Among  the  eminent  persons  who  have  be- 
come receivers  of  the  belief,  may  be  mentioned  Theophilus  Par- 
sons, Dane  Professor  of  Law,  Cambridge  University ;  also  Pro- 
fessor Bush  of  New  York,  Avell  known  as  a  distmguished  Avriter 
and  theologian.  The  late  Judge  Young,  of  Greenburg,  Pa.,  was 
a  convert  to  the  belief ;  with  whom  also  may  be  mentioned  Mrs. 
Child,  the  authoress ;  T.  S.  Arthur ;  and  Powers,  the  sculptor. 
There  are  many  others  whom  it  would  be  easy  to  name. 

There  are  those  of  Swedenborg's  opposers  who,  unable  to  con- 
fute his  claims,  have  striven  to  pass  them  by  in  silence,  or  class 
them  with  the  doctrines  held  by  the  Shakers  and  Tunkei-s.  Yet^ 
if  Ave  can  believe  an  article  in  a  late  number  of  the  "  Literary 
World,"  they  ar^  now  beginning  to  attract  that  attention  Avhich 
they  deserve,  and  which  the  times  demand;  it  being  stated  that 
"  the  renaissance  of  Swedenborg's  writings  is  the  order  of  the  day 
in  the  theological  world,  and  to  Avhich  even  the  excitement  upon 
the  Puseyite  question  is  but  limited  and  secondaiy."*  A  citation 
like  this,  coming  as  it  does"  from  an  opposer,  evinces  the  truth, 
and  that  the  light  has  begun  to  dawn ;  and  we  think  little  is 
hazarded  in  saying,  that  for  some  time  to  come  the  renaissance  of 
Swedenborg's  writings  will  be  the  order  of  the  day,  and  that  the 
despised  belief  will  exhibit  a  front  and  bearing  which  even  ortho- 
doxy itself  will  esteem  as  not  despicable ;  and  from  warring 
against  the  Catholic  religion  as  the  great  6nemy  of  the  Church, 
will  soon  bring  (if  not  rent  asunder)  all  her  forces,  her  mighty 
men  of  war,  to  combat  the  new  and  powerful  antagonist. 

We  have  gone  thus  far  in  examining  Swedenborg's  claims  ;  and 
in  the  ensuing  sections  we  have  attempted  roughly  to  pencil  some 
of  the  leading  features  of  that  great  system  of  truth,  which  is 

*  Literary  World,  Aug.  S8,  1S48,  bv  C.  F.  Hoffman, 


THE   AUTHOR   ALONE   KESPONSIBLE.  73 

sincerely  believed  to  be  the  grand  means  by  Avliich  the  millennial 
age  is  to  be  ushered  in ;  and  in  doing  so  we  are  aware  that  the 
sketches  which  have  been  made  are  lacking  in  unity,  and  are  far 
from  doing  the  subject  the  justice  which  it  deserves ;  yet  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  they  may  not  be  altogether  useless  in  leading 
the  inquirer  after  truth  to  seek  the  source  to  which  they  point. 

It  is  also  to  be  understood  that  in  the  explanations  of  the 
Scriptures,  we  consider  ourselves  alone  responsible  for  what  is 
written,  and  if  eiTors  are  to  be  found  they  are  not  to  be  attributed 
to  the  system  of  truth  advocated.  The  individual  mind  views  a 
subject  after  its  own  peculiar  manner,  hence  it  is  not  impossible 
that  inferences  may  have  been  drawn  which  are  not  justifiable  :  if 
so,  they  can  easily  be  rectified  by  having  recourse  to  our  distin- 
guished authority,  who,  it  will  be  found,  is  his  own  best  ex- 
positor. 

Commending  what  is  said  to  the  good-will  of  the  reader,  Ave 
invite  his  attention  to  the  ensuing  section,  and  the  brief  history 
of  creation  as  gathered  from  Swedcnborg's  explanations. 


SECTION  YI. 


THE  CREATION— THE  AGE  OF  HAPPINESS  AND  THE  FALL  OF  THE  RACE. 

It  is  a  self-evident  truth,  that  "  out  of  nothing  nothing  can  be 
produced  :"  hence  we  are  informed  that  the  magnificent  and  daz- 
zHng  sun  which  we  daily  behold  was  not  created  from  nothing, 
but  emanated  from  the  Deity.  From  this  sun  was  formed  the 
earth  and  planetaiy  system.  The  world,  it  is  believed,  remained 
for  ages  a  gigantic  mass  of  molten  lava,  and  proceeded  on  its 
appointed  course  through  the  regions  of  space.  By  slow  and  im- 
perceptible degrees  the  intense  and  burning  heat  was  in  a  manner 
expelled,  and  the  crust  of  the  earth  formed  ;  yet  it  still  remained 
a  vast  bod}^  and  without  living  form,  and  void.  Then  did  the 
Spirit  of  God  again  move  ;  and  it  was  said,  "  Let  there  be  a  fir- 
mament in  the  midst  of  the  waters,  and  let  land  appear,  and  it 
was  so ;"  and  then  sprang  forth,  according  to  the  laws  of  divine 
order,  shmbs,  trees,  and  floAvers,  and  the  whole  earth  was  a 
Garden  of  Eden,  and  a  universal  paradise. 

Then  it  was  said,  "  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  livinof  crea- 
ture  after  his  kind,  cattle  and  creeping  thing,  and  beast  of  the 
earth  after  his  kind.  And  it  Avas  so.  And  God  saw  that  it  ivas 
flood .  And  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of 
God  created  he  him.  And  God  blessed  them,  and  God  said 
unto  them,  Be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and 
subdue  it ;  and  have  dommion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  every  li\-ing 
thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth.  And  God  saw  every  thing 
that  he  had  made,  and  behold  it  ims  very  c/oofl.'" 

Such,  we  believe,  was  the  veritable  and  sublime  progress  of  the 


OKDER  AND  PROGRESS  OF  CREATION.         75 

great  work  of  creation  ;  and  man,  the  crown  and  glory  of  all,  and 
for  whom  all  thmgs  were  made,  was  placed  upon  the  earth  that 
he  might  hve  a  life  of  eryoyment,  perform  uses  sufficiently  to  ex- 
ercise his  powers,  and  render  himself  capable  of  partaking  its 
delights,  and  then  was  to  go  to  the  hidden  world,  and  forever 
live  a  life  of  happiness. 

Such  was  the  great  end  of  creation,  and  for  which  the  Deity 
exercised  his  infinite  power.  At  this  primeval  era,  "  man  was 
perfect  in  all  things  in  which  he  could  have  perfection  :  perfect  in 
fonn,  in  strength,  in  activities,  and  in  beauty ;  perfect  in  all  his 
natural  faculties  of  mind,  in  all  his  functions  of  body,  in  his  intel- 
lectual and  nervous  sensibilities  ;  perfect  in  every  endowment, 
talent,  and  capability  of  his  appointed  nature.  Poetry  cannot 
describe  him,  fancy  cannot  conceive  him  too  admirable ;  nor  can 
eloquence  transcend  the  truth  of  his  realities  by  the  most  splendid 
panegyric."  Suitable  for  such  a  being  thus  formed  by  the  hands 
of  his  Creator,  there  was  to  be  found  on  the  earth,  incredible  as 
it  may  appear,  neither  the  burning  heats  of  the  summer  nor  the 
piercing  blasts  of  the  winter.  "The  face  of  every  thing  was 
serene,  and  zephyrs  only  with  their  gentle  fannings  appeased  the 
murmurs  of  the  wind."  Neither  could  there  be  found  the  fero- 
cious beast  nor  the  noxious  plant,  for  it  is  said  that  man  had  do- 
minion, and  this  without  fear,  over  all  things  that  moved  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  that  the  fruit  of  every  tree  and  herb 
was  for  sustenance,  and  tliat  all  was  very  good. 

Thus  there  was  a  time  (for  we  are  informed,  and  reason  sanc- 
tions the  statement,  that  man  did  not  fall  in  a  day)  when  there 
was  no  evil  or  misery  ;  a  time  when,  as  is  truly  remarked,  men 
lived 

"In  innocence,  and  told 

A  length  of  golden  years  unfleshed  in  blood ; 
A  stranger  to  the  savage  arts  of  life — 
.  .  .  Rapine,  carnage,  surfeit,  and  disease." 

But,  as  is  known,  this  happy  period,  termed  by  the  ancients 
the  Golden  Age,  traditions  of  which  are  everywhere  to  be  found, 
did  not  continue  ;  for  after  the  first  race  had  thus  lived  for  many 
ages  a  life  of  the  greatest  purity,  innocence,  and  happiness,  they 
began  gradually  to  abuse  the  great  gift  wliich  had  been  bestowed 


75  THE   FALL    OF   THE    KACE. 

upon  them,  that  of  the  power  of  wiUing  and  acting  as  they 
pleased,  and  which  alone  constituted  them  rational  and  responsible 
beincrs.  By  the  abuse  of  this  free-will  they  created  and  originated 
evil  thouo-hts  and  desires,  thus  evil  itself.  And  from  this  begin- 
nino-,  slight  and  almost  imperceptible  as  it  must  have  been,  have 
sprung  all  the  temfic  evils,  both  mental  and  physical,  which 
afflict  humanity. 

Man  thus  by  the  abuse  of  his  free  agency  gradually  lost  the  in- 
telligence and  tnie  wisdom  with  which  he  was  originally  gifted, 
and  from  which  he  derived  his  happiness ;  and  from  the  height 
of  knowledge  fell,  step  by  step,  age  by  age,  into  the  depths  of 
darkness,  ignorance,  and  misery.  Thus  originated  the  numerous 
diseases  to  which  mankind  have  subjected  themselves,  and  from 
the  fatal  moment  when  the  first  evil  thought  was  generated  down 
to  the  present  era,  the  work  of  misery  and  unhappiness  has  in- 
creased ;  for  by  a  law  of  natm-e,  or  law  of  the  Deity — and  there 
is  none  better  proved — each  pei-son  transmits  to  his  offspring  his 
good  and  bad  qualities,  and  the  child  adds  to  his  hereditary  evils 
and  peculiarities  his  own  acquired  in  acting  his  part  as  a  free 
agent,  and  thus  is  the  infinite  change  of  face  and  form,  of  good 
and  evil,  reproduced  and  perpetuated. 

It  may  be  asked.  Why  was  not  the  creation  of  the  first  evil 
thought  arrested  ?  We  reply,  because  it  was  impossible.  If  it 
had  been,  man's  freedom,  thus  his  rationality,  would  have  been 
destroyed.  It  would  have  suspended  or  annihilated  the  action  of 
the  human  soul,  and  have  made  its  existence  useless  and  super- 
fluous. Man  would  then  not  have  been  man,  but  a  mere  frame- 
work of  bony  and  fleshy  mechanism,  and  thus  there  would  have 
been  no  rational  creation :  yet  a  universe  of  uses  must  exist,  for 
the  Deity,  who  is  goodness  and  wsdom,  could  not  by  the  very 
laws  of  the  divine  order  which  compose  his  being,  and  to  which 
he  is  self-subjected,  exist -without  doing  good,  and  thus  exercising 
his  attributes.  The  very  essence  of  love  or  goodness  is  not  to 
love  itself  alone,  but  to  love  others ;  that  is,  mankind  or  his  chil- 
dren, and  to  be  joined  to  them  by  love.  The  essence  of  selfish- 
ness is  to  love  itself  alone ;  and  to  assert  that  the  great  Father 
can  exist  without  a  creation,  is  to  assert  that  he  exists  for  himself 
alone,  and  thus  is  a  personification  of  selfishness.  In  our  blind 
desire  to  magnify  the  great  Being,  we  too  frequently  ascribe  to 


EVIDENCE    OF    MAN's    ESSENTIAL    EKEEDOM.  77 

him  that  which  is  totally  adverse  to  his  goodness,  wisdom,  and 
justice. 

If  man  had  not  this  perfect  free  agency,  or  the  poAver  of  choos- 
ing, determining,  and  acting  in  pursuance  of  such  a  determina- 
tion, what  justice  would  there  be  in  punishing  crimes  in  this 
world  or  the  world  to  come  ?  If  man  were  not  free,  and  had  not 
the  ability  of  turning  to  good  or  evil,  it  truly  might  be  said  that 
even  the  great  Creator  was  the  author  of  his  vmhappiness. 

All  legislators,  and  the  vmiversal  language  of  mankind,  consider 
every  person  as  free,  and  that  he  has  the  power  of  willing  and 
acting.  They  also  hold  him  responsible  for  that  power.  Reason 
informs  us  that  eveiy  volition  has  a  voluntary  cause,  and  therefore 
man  is  free.  Human  consciousness,  the  most  decisive  ground  of 
appeal  on  all  questions  of  this  nature,  informs  us  in  language  not 
to  be  misunderstood,  that  man  is  free. 

In  reference  to  this  subject  it  is  said,  in  Ezekiel  (xviii.  23), 
"Have  I  any  pleasure  at  all  that  the  icicked  should  die?  saith 
the  Lord  God  :  and  not  that  he  should  return  from  his  ways  and 
live?"  Again,  in  v.  32,  the  same  sentiment  is  repeated  :  "  Cast 
away  from  you  all  your  transgressions  whereby  ye  have  trans- 
gressed :  and  make  you  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit :  for  why 
will  ye  die,  O  house  of  Israel  ?  For  I  have  no  2oleasure  in  the 
death  of  him  that  dieth,  saith  the  Lord  God :  ivherefore  turn 
yourselves,  and  live  i/e."  Here,  in  the  most  distinct  language,  it 
is  stated  that  God  has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked. 
The  Saviour  also  confirms  this  most  important  of  all  truths,  by 
informing  his  disciples  that  his  love  was  so  great  for  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Jerusalem,  that  notwithstanding  they  had  stoned  the 
prophets  and  killed  those  sent  to  them,  yet  still  he  would  have 
gathered  his  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathers  her  chickens 
under  her  wings,  but  they  would  not. 

Unless  it  can  be  sho-mi  that  God  has  pleasure  in  the  death  of 
the  wicked,  that  the  Saviour  told  what  was  not  true  when  he 
solemnly  informs  us,  that  the  reason  he  coidd  not  save  his  chil- 
dren, or  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  was  because  they  would 
not — unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  Deity  is  not  a  being  of  love, 
but  of  injustice,  and  that  man  is  totally  incapable  of  exercising 
his  rational  powers — unless,  we  say,  all  these  things  can  be 
proved  true,  then  can  it  be  believed  that  man  is  not  in  every  re- 


78  THE   FALL    OF   THE   RACE. 

spect  a  free  agent,  and  tliat  it  is  possible  to  destroy  this  greatest 
of  all  gifts  ? 

The  truth  that  man  is  free  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  It 
exhibits  the  character  of  the  Deity  in  an  entii-ely  different  light. 
It  exhibits  him  as  a  father  wishing  to  save  all  that  will  be  saved, 
and  who,  if  it  were  possible,  would  have  no  misery  now  or  here- 
after. It  evinces  that  when  the  first  e\il  thought  originated,  the 
Deity,  with  an  eye  of  omniscience  and  a  bosom  of  love,  aimed  to 
arrest  the  misery  which  was  foreseen ;  that  from  that  momentous 
period  until  the  present,  he  has  endeavored  to  restore  his  chil- 
dren, without  destroying  their  freedom,  to  the  happy  state  in 
Avhieh  they  were  created ;  that  nothing  has  been  spared ;  that 
warnings  and  miracles  of  the  most  stupendous  character  have 
been  presented  ;  that  even  a  Saviour  has  appeared  and  suffered 
in  the  endeavor  to  restore  the  human  race.  When  it  is  known 
that  the  angel  of  mercy  would  save  all  if  he  were  permitted,  and 
.standeth  at  the  door  and  knocketh  for  admittance,  then  there  is 
no  excuse  for  evil  deeds,  and  it  is  knoAvn  that  in  whatever  event 
God  has  done  his  part.  But  it  would  be  far  different  if  we  be- 
lieved that  he  could,  if  he  pleased,  annihilate  man's  miserj-,  and 
would  not.  In  this  case  we  should  say  that  he  was  a  Being 
strange  and  incomprehensible,  and  one  in  whom  the  human  heart 
could  not  sympathize.  We  should  look  upon  him  in  the  same 
light  as  upon  an  earthly  father  who,  with  the  ability  to  do  it,  re- 
fused to  assist  his  suffering  and  perishing  children,  and  refused, 
at  the  same  time,  to  give  a  reason  for  his  conduct.  On  this  sub- 
ject we  should  not,  as  in  the  days  of  superstition,  allow  oui" 
Father's  greatness  to  obscure  the  intellect  with  which  he  has  en- 
dowed us,  but  remember  "  there  is  no  fear  in  love,  and  that  per- 
fect love  casteth  out  fear." 

It  can  now  be  seen  why  the  Israelites  in  the  desert  woi-shipped 
a  golden  calf,  Avhile  yet  Jehovah  saw  this  from  Mount  Sinai,  and 
did  not  guard  against  it ;  why  Solomon  was  permitted  to  institute 
idolatrous  worship ;  why  the  Mahometan  faith  is  permitted  to 
exist,  and  that  the  Christian  religion  is  divided  into  so  many  con- 
flicting sects  ;  why  there  are  so  many  impious  people  in  Christen- 
dom ;  why  wars  are  permitted.  Such  things,  we  are  infom^ed, 
proceed  fi-om  the  free  agency  of  every  man,  nor  can  the  truth  of 
the  statement  be  gainsay ed. 


MILTON  S   TESTIMONY.  79 

We  close  our  remarks  on  this  subject  with  a  quotation  from 
Milton,  who,  amono-  other  eminent  Avriters,  takes  the  same  arrounds 
in  reference  to  man's  fi-eedom,  and  the  impossibility  of  revoking 
the  high  decree,  Unchangeable  and  Eternal,  by  which  crea- 
tion exists. 

I  formed  them  free,  and  free  they  must  remahi 
Till  they  enthrall  themselves  ;  I  else  must  change 
Their  nature,  and  revoke  the  liigh  decree 
Unchangeable,  Eternal,  which  ordained 
Their  freedom ;  they  themselves  ordained  their  fall. 

.     .     .     .     That  thou  art  happy,  owe  to  God : 

That  thou  contiuuest  such,  owe  to  thyself; 

That  is,  to  thy  obedience :  therein  stand. 

This  was  that  caution  given  thee  ;  be  advised. 

God  made  thee  perfect,  not  immutable  ; 

And  good  he  made  thee  ;  but  to  persevere 

He  left  it  in  thy  power ;  ordained  thy  will 

By  nature  free,  not  overruled  by  fate 

Inextricable,  or  strict  necessity  : 

Our  voluntary  service  he  requires, 

Not  our  necessitated  :  such  with  him 

Finds  no  acceptance,  nor  can  find  ;  for  how 

Can  hearts  not  free  be  tried  whether  they  serve 

WiUing  or  no,  who  will  but  what  tliey  must 

By  destiny,  and  can  no  other  choose  ? 

Myself,  and  all  the  angelic  host  that  stand 

In  sight  of  God  enthroned,  our  happy  state 

Hold,  as  you  yours,  while  our  obedience  holds. 


SECTION  YII, 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  RACE  CONTLNUED. 

If  the  reader  is  convinced  that  man  is  and  ahvays  was  a  free 
agent,  and  that  his  free-will  cannot  be  forced,  nor  virtue  nor 
knowledge  urged  upon  him  apart  from  his  own  volition  as  a  ra- 
tional being,  he  will  be  able  to  accompany  us  in  our  further  ex- 
planations. Unless  this  is  admitted,  our  remarks  will  be  of  no 
avail.  Belienng  that  it  has  been  fairly  evinced  that  man  is  not 
an  automaton  or  machine,  but  perfectly  free,  we  will  continue  a 
very  brief  and  general  narrative  of  the  fall  of  the  first  and  most 
ancient  race. 

This  first  people,  as  before  remarked,  did  not  fall  in  a  day,  but 
many  ages  elapsed  before  they  became  corrupted.  From  the  in- 
ternal sense  of  the  Scriptures  we  are  informed  that  step  by  step, 
century  by  century,  they  fell,  and,  losing  at  each  sviccessive  stage 
in  their  decline  more  and  more  of  the  tnxe  knowledge  of  then* 
Heavenly  Father  and  of  the  pure  religion  which  had  been  im- 
parted to  them,  they  finally  arrived  at  such  a  state  of  gross 
materialism  that  the  majority  utterly  disbelieved  in  the  Divine 
existence,  and  worshipped  hideous  idols.  So  great  was  their 
superstition  at  this  time,  that  many  of  the  powerful  chieftains 
made  their  followers  believe  that  they  were  gods,  and  caused 
themselves  T;o  be  worshipped  as  such. 

The  reason  why  the  faculty  of  veneration  was  ever  thus  exer- 
cised was,  tliat  they  had  derived  from  tradition  the  fact  that  there 
was  a  Deity  or  Deities  who  had  created  all  things,  and  who  each 
had  all  power.  Of  their  God's  attributes  they  had  little  knowl- 
edge, and  believed  that  he  could  work  e\'il  as  well  as  good ; 
and  supposed   that  he  was  a  vindictive,  angry,   awful   Being, 


THE   FALL   GKADCAL.  81 

Avhose  sole  desire  was  tliat  they  should  fall  down  and  worship 
him,  and  this  because  it  gave  him  pleasure  to  see  them  thus  pros- 
trate themselves.  They  believed  that  he  exercised  his  power  as 
did  their  leaders,  and  to  evince  that  they  were  as  nothing  to  him. 

The  belief  in  a  spiritual  and  invisible  God  was  to  them  a  thing 
impossible ;  and  the  only  Deity  Avhom  they  could  woi-ship  was 
one  that  they  could  feel,  or  at  least  see ;  hence  they  constructed 
images  and  worshipped  their  chieftains.  Many  of  these  darkened 
and  benighted  races,  from  an  abuse  of  the  science  of  correspond- 
ence, believed  that  the  sun  was  God,  and  adored  it  as  such. 
From  this  source  the  followers  of  Zoroaster  and  the  ancient  Mexi- 
cans derived  their  belief. 

Durinff  the  fall  of  the  race  the  earth  underwent  the  most  as- 
tonishing  changes,  both  in  regard  to  climate  and  general  aspect. 
As  it  is  now,  we  can  scarcely  form  an  idea  of  its  appearance  at 
the  distant  period  of  its  antiquity  of  Avhich  we  here  speak.  From 
certain  causes,  Avhich  originated  solely  in  man's  wickedness,  a 
partial  deluge  or  deluges  Avere  brought  at  difterent  times  upon 
the  earth  ;  and  so  great  Avere  the  floods,  and  so  slight  and  defi- 
cient in  those  days  were  the  means  of  procuring  or  sending  in- 
formation, that  each  nation  of  those  who  escaped  supposed  that 
they  were  the  only  persons  saved,  and  hence  that  the  whole 
world  was  submerged.  Those  that  remained,  and  who  composed 
a  part  of  the  nations  of  the  plains  of  Sliinar,  with  those  of  China, 
Hindoostan,  and  Mexico,  attributed  the  great  catastrophe,  as  is 
presened  in  their  traditions,  to  their  angry  gods,  who  had  thus 
punished  them,  not  because  of  their  evils,  but  for  the  reason  that 
they  had  not  produced  more  offerings  and  sacrificed  more  human 
lives  at  their  bloody  altars.* 

From  the  era  of  tlie  deluge  to  the  call  of  Abraham  ages 
elapsed.  During  this  period  misery  of  every  description  in- 
creased, and,  as  recorded  in  the  Sacred  Writings,  "  the  imagina- 
tion of  man's  heart  was  only  evil  continually."  Idolatry,  man- 
worship,  the  use  of  the  woman  as  a  beast  of  burden,  incestuous 
marriages,  ferocious  wars,  the  burning  of  living  men  and  children 
to  appease  and  propitiate  their  gods,  were  to  be  found  among  the 
customs  and  habits  of  the  most  ci\alized  nations.     With  few  ex- 

*  For  an  able  and  interesting  view  of  this  subject,  see  Eendell's  "  Antedi- 
luvian Hirstory." 


82  THE   FALL   OF   THE   RACE. 

ceptions,  a  night  of  universal  darkness  reigned.  The  strongest 
revelled  in  the  possession  of  that  which  the  weaker  could  not 
keep  from  them,  and  there  was  no  other  liberty  except  that  of  an 
Eastern  despotism. 

At  this  time  the  Almighty  Disposer  of  all  things,  seeing,  unless 
he  interposed,  man  would  bring  about  events  which  would  result 
in  his  total  annihilation  from  the  earth,  came  forward,  and  from 
the  treasury  of  the  di\ane  knowledge  selected  ways  and  means 
by  which  he  could,  without  destioying  man's  free  agency,  bring 
back  and  restore  the  days  of  ancient  happiness.  He  wished  to 
do  this  in  a  manner  to  e^^nce  to  the  benighted  races  that  it  was 
not  for  himself,  but  for  them,  that  he  sought  to  do  that  which 
was  to  be  so  beneficial.  But  how  could  this  be  effected  ?  Could 
it  be  done  by  argument,  by  reason,  by  infomiing  them  that  it 
was  injurious  to  their  interest  to  practise  such  enonnities,  by  gen- 
tleness, telUng  them  that  there  was  another  and  hidden  world,  and 
that  by  practising  a  little  self-denial  and  patience  they  would  en- 
able themselves  to  five  forever  in  happiness ;  that  they  were  his 
children,  that  he  loved  them,  and  would,  if  he  were  allowed,  re- 
lieve them  from  the  ciniel  tniseries  Avhich  they  were  inflicting 
upon  themselves  ?  Had  he  with  all  kindness  and  gentleness  thus 
addressed  them,  would  they  have  believed  him  ?  Well  may  it 
be  answered  in  the  negative  ;  and  it  can  easily  be  seen  that  their 
natures  were  so  brutal,  that  if  he  had  appeared  and  attempted 
to  argue  thus  in  their  cities,  he  would  have  been  treated  in  the 
most  ignominious  manner  and  hurried  to  the  fiery  sacrifice. 
Hence  the  great  Being,  knowing  their  character,  their  brutal  na- 
ture, and  that  only  in  a  certain  manner  he  could  act,  appeared  to 
them  for  centuries  as  a  beinsj  of  wrath  and  vengeance.  The 
great  body  of  the  ancient  Jews,  after  he  made  his  appearance 
among  them,  believed  that  they  should  worship  the  only  true 
God  from  fear,  and  from  the  same  motives  that  caused  the  Egyp- 
tians to  adore  their  deities. 

That  this  was  the  case,  and  that  the  Israelites  were  a  sensuous 
and  darkened  race,  who  could  be  acted  upon  only  by  means 
of  the  most  striking  agencies,  the  reason  for  which  could  be  seen 
by  the  most  ignorant,  is  evident  from  many  things.  First,  we 
learn  that  the  patriarch  Abraham  was  selected  to  be  the  subject 
of  the  commencement  of  the  grand  process  by  which  mankind 


THE   CALL   OF   ABRAHAM.  83 

were  to  be  Christianized  and  regenerated.  He  Avas  chosen,  being 
superior  in  his  natural  capacities  to  those  around  him,  and  from 
his  employment  and  living  at  a  distance  from  large  cities,  had 
never  been  contaminated  by  their  licentiousness.  Yet  to  make  a 
suitable  impression  on  him,  it  was  necessary  that  the  most  as- 
tonishing means  should  be  resorted  to.  If  a  supernatural  Being 
should  privately  appear  at  the  present  time  and  inform  one  that 
he  possessed  unlimited  power,  that  he  could  convert  with  ease 
the  base  metals  into  gold,  that  he  had  the  ability  to  join  with 
riches  great  talents  and  of  a  nature  sufficient  for  the  foundation 
of  a  race  from  which  a  mighty  nation  might  date  their  origin, 
and  who  would  look  up  to  the  favored  mortal  as  the  great  ances- 
tor from  which  they  sprang,  we  may  well  believe  that  there  are 
few,  if  the  Being  gave  satisfactory  evidence  that  he  had  such 
power,  Avho  would  not  look  well  to  his  words.  Now  nearly  all 
these  promises  were  made  to  Abraham  by  his  radiant  and  splen- 
did visitor  if  he  Avould  act  and  proceed  as  was  required.  He 
consented,  and  it  was  said  unto  him,  "  Get  thee  out  of  thy  coun- 
try, and  from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father's  house,  unto  a 
land  that  I  will  show  thee." 

On  his  journey  to  Egypt  the  angel  of  God  again  appeared 
and  renewed  his  promises.  Abraham  arrived  in  Egypt,  but  here 
his  faith  in  the  power  of  his  new  Deity*  was  shaken ;  and  feaiing 
the  corruption  of  the  city  into  which  he  is  about  to  enter,  he  says 

*  That  Abraham  vms  oriijiiially  an  idolater  is  evident  from  the  following, 
taken  from  the  Book  of  Jo.shua,  xxiv.  2.  "  And  Joshua  said  unto  all  the 
people,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel :  Your  fathers  dwelt  on  tlie  other 
side  of  the  flood  in  old  time,  even  Terah,  the  father  of  Abraham,  and  the 
father  of  Nahor;  and  they  served  other  gods."  Again,  in  ver.  14:  "Now 
therefore  fear  the  Lord,  and  serve  him  in  sincerity  and  in  truth  ;  and  put  away 
the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  on  the  other  side  of  the  flood,  and  in 
Egypt;  and  serve  ye  tlie  Lord."  Ver.  15:  "And  if  it  seem  evil  unto  you 
to  serve  the  Lord,  choose  you  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve,  whether  the 
gods  which  your  fathers  served  that  were  on  the  other  side  of  the  flood,  or 
the  gods  of  the  Amorites  in  whose  land  ye  dwell."  That  Nahor  was  a  na- 
tion given  to  idolatrous  worship,  appears  from  Laban  the  Syrian  who  lived 
in  the  city  of  Nahor  and  worshipped  images  or  teraphim,  which  liaehel  took 
away,  Gen.  .xxiv.  10;  xxxi.  19,  2(5,  32,  34;  and  that  Abraham  had  one  God, 
Nahor  another,  and  their  father,  or  Terah,  another,  appears  from  Gen. 
xxxi.  53.  It  is  also  expressly  declared  concerning  Abraham,  that  Jehovah 
was  not  known  to  him,  in  Moses  :  "  I  appeared  unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac, 
and  unto  Jacob,  by  the  name  of  (or  as)  God  Almighty,  but  by  my  name 
Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them." — Exod.  vi.  3. 


a4  THE   FALL   OF   THE   KACE. 

to  Sarah  his  wife :  '•  Behold  now  I  know  that  thou  art  a  fair  woman 
to  look  upon :  therefore  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  the  Egyp- 
tians see  thee,  that  they  shall  say  that  this  is  his  wife :  and  they 
Avill  kill  me,  but  they  Avill  save  thee  alive.  Say,  I  pray  thee,  that 
thou  art  my  sister."  Sarah,  it  is  known,  consented.  For  ti-uth's 
sake,  it  must  be  admitted  that  on  this  occasion  Abraham  was  not 
only  guilty  of  prevaricating,  but  at  the  same  tune  delivered  his 
wife  into  the  hands  of  the  merciless  Pharaoh.  .This  little  narra- 
tive, together  with  Abraham's  .md  his  wife's  conduct  when  the 
Lord  infoi-med  them  that  Sarah  in  her  old  age  should  bear  a 
child,  and  their  treatment  of  Hagar,  e-vince  a  want  of  faith  and  a 
gross,  uncultivated  state  of  mind  in  those  who  were  selected  to  be 
the  instruments  of  the  new  dispensation.  The  conduct  of  Lot 
and  his  family,  and  Jacob's  treatment  of  Esau,  also  illustrate  om- 
observations. 

In  the  relation  concerning  Sodom  and  Gomoirah,  is  exhibited 
a  striking  instance  of  the  immorality  of  those  times.  The  confla- 
gration of  these  places  was  the  first  great  moral  lesson  taught  to 
Abraham  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  adjacent  cities.  Here  in  this 
case  it  is  seen  that  the  Deity  did  not  wait  until  after  death  for 
the  administration  of  punishment,  but  before  the  temfied  specta- 
tors completed  the  awful  catastrophe.  This  exhibition  of  the 
might  and  power  of  the  newly  manifested  Jehovah  took  place 
that  that  and  succeeding  generations  might  know  that,  unlike  all 
others,  he  was  a  Being  opposed  to  wickedness  of  all  kinds,  and 
that  it  was  for  this  fire  descended  from  the  heavens. 

The  miracles  which  were  wrought  during  this  dispensation 
were  of  such  a  stupendous  character  as  finally  to  beat  down  all 
opposition  ;  and  yet,  notwithstanding  their  magnitude,  it  Avas  with 
the  greatest  difficulty  that  the  descendants  of  Abraham  and  Isaac 
would  pay  heed  to  them,  and  believe  that  the  great  Being  was 
superior  to  the  gods  whom  they  worshipped  in  Egypt.  If  at  the 
present  time  notice  should  be  given  in  a  supernatural  manner 
that  the  Deity  was  ^nsibly  to  appear  and  manifest  himself  upon  a 
certain  lofty  mountain,  and  the  elect  should  be  desired  to  assem- 
ble together  to  ■witness  the  astonishing  spectacle,  and  the  event 
should  transpire  with  a  grandeur,  magnificence,  and  subhraity 
worthy  of  its  author  and  the  occasion,  it  would  seem  that  those 
persons  who  beheld  the  overwhelming  sight  would,  at  least  for 


THE   OBDUKACY   OF   THE   JEWS.  85 

many  years,  believe  that  the  Being  who  appeared  was  indeed  the 
only  and  trvie  God.  The  Scriptures  inform  us  that  this  sublime 
and  awful  spectacle  was  witnessed  by  the  children  of  Israel  at 
Sinai,  that  the  Deity  appeared  in  flames  of  fire,  and  that  the 
mountain  shook  as  by  an  earthquake.  Yet  notwithstanding  this 
fearful  sight  and  the  prodigies  of  miracles  wrought  at  the  Red 
Sea  and  in  the  Avilderness,  we  read  that  because  Moses  delayed  to 
come  down  from  the  mount,  "  the  people  gathered  themselves 
unto  Aaron,  and  said  unto  him,  Up,  make  us  gods  which  shall 
go  before  us ;  for  as  for  this  Moses,  the  man  that  brought  us  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt,  we  wot  not  what  is  become  of  him."  Then 
we  are  informed  that  Aaron  (who  had  been  supernaturaUy  en- 
doAved,  and  wrought  miracles)  consented  to  their  proposal.  A 
golden  calf  was  made,  sacrifices  were  oflfered,  and,  to  complete 
their  image-worship,  they,  like  a  band  of  Egyptian  idolaters, 
danced  for  joy  around  the  loved  and  ancient  deity. 

In  another  place  it  is  said  that  the  Lord,  being  angry  at  this 
occurrence,  informed  Moses  that  he  should  destroy  and  consume 
them.  Upon  this  threat  it  is  stated  that  Moses  argued  the  mat- 
ter with  the  Lord,  and  that  in  consequence  of  this  reasoning, 
"  the  Lord  repented  of  the  evil  which  he  thought  to  do  unto  his 
people."  Here  it  is  clearly  seen  that  the  Lord  did  not  repent, 
but  adopted  this  manner  of  proceeding  with  this  ignorant  people 
solely  for  the  purpose  of  evincing  that  he  was  a  being  who  would 
forgive  them,  and  had  not  passions  like  themselves  ;  and  also  that 
a  little  light  might  be  made  to  shine  upon  this  night  of  almost 
universal  darkness.  The  case  was  much  as  if  a  supernatural 
Being  should  appear  among  a  nation  of  savages,  and  without  de- 
stroying their  free  agency,  endeavor,  by  astonishing  sights  and 
miracles,  to  work  upon  them  in  such  manner  as  to  bring  about 
his  ends.  The  fact  that  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Mosaic  Law,  and  was  not  taught  un- 
til many  centimes  after,  evinces  that  the  ancient  Israefites  were, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  a  gross  and  sensuous  people.  With  such  a 
race,  and  without  preparation,  a  belief  in  invisible  or  spiritual 
things  was  almost  an  impossibility.  Like  the  ancient  skeptic, 
they  would  have  mocked  at  the  idea,  and  it  would  have  been 
throwing  jewels  to  swine,  or  a.  profanation  of  truth  itself. 

It  can  now  be  seen  why  the  first  ten  chapters  of  Genesis  are 


86  THE    FALL    OF   THE    KACE. 

written  in  the  manner  they  are,  or  as  a  designed  allegonj.  This 
part  of  the  Holy  Oracles  (which  did  not  originate  with  Moses*) 
was  composed  thus  for  various  reasons.  The  chief  are,  that  it 
should  accommodate  itself  to  the  darkened  minds  of  the  Israelites 
and  others,  their  traditions,  and  at  the  same  time  convey  a  real 
truth  and  internal  sense  to  future  and  more  enlightened  genera- 
tions. In  the  allegory  it  was  made  to  appear  to  the  Jews  that 
thev  could  ^:>a>-  eminence,  and  alone,  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
trace  through  a  vast  number  of  centuries  a  direct  descent  from 
the  first  race.  This  was  done  to  induce  them  to  preserve  and 
guard  from  injury  the  sacred  manuscripts  as  the  most  precious 
of  all  things.  At  this  period,  or  at  the  call  of  Abraham,  with 
one  exception,  the  different  nations  had  no  knowledge  of  the  age 
of  the  Avorld,  and  thus  had  no  period  of  time  to  date  from. 
Hence  it  was  necessary,  in  the  communication  which  the  Deity  at 
that  time  made  to  mankind,  that  the  great  Statute  Book  should 
be  dated  as  it  is,  and  as  a  grand  historical  era  for  succeeding 
generations. 

If  a  real  accoiuit  of  creation — of  the  formation  of  tlie  world 
from  the  sun — a  history  of  the  virtue  and  happiness  in  which  the 
first  race  lived — and  a  time  idea  of  the  attributes  of  the  Deity 
had  been  given  and  recorded,  it  would  have  been  incomprehensi- 
ble to  the  Jews,  and  hence  useless.  Tlie  account  as  it  is  now,  and 
in  its  literal  sense,  was  to  them,  as  it  is  to  many  at  the  present 
day,  perfectly  satisfactory. 

It  is  said  and  believed  by  thousands  that  the  sun  does  in 
reality  Yise  and  set.  This  may  be.called  an  apparent  truth  ;  for, 
as  is  well  known,  it  does  not,  and  the  sun  in  reality  is  stationary, 
and  it  is  the  earth  which  revolves.  The  language  and  terms  are 
nevertheless  universally  used,  and  this  first  from  custom  and 
usage,  and  second  for  the  pin"pose,  when  conversing,  of  accom- 
modating ourselves  to  the  minds  of  those  who  are  unable  to  un- 
derstand the  real  truth,  and  whom  it  would  be  utterly  impossible 
to  convince  that  the  sun  actually  did  not  course  daily  through 
the  heavens  and  set  in  the  west. 

Now  the  allegory  in  Genesis  and  many  portions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures is  wiitten  in  this  manner,  and  solely  for  those  who  cannot 
understand  otherwise.  It  is  said  that  the  Deity  rested  and  re- 
*  See  Appendix. 


ALLEGORICAL  SENSE  OF  THE  SERPENT.  ST 

pented ;  that  he  was  angry,  revengeful,  and  sometimes  provoked 
to  cursing.  These  things  are  apparent  truths,  and  not  real ;  for 
the  passions  above  indicated  are  such  as  belong  to  a  demon, 
and  it  would  be  impious  to  ascribe  them  to  a  God  of  goodness 
and  wisdom.  To  an  irreligious  person,  the  great  Being  appears 
as  a  God  of  wrath  and  vengeance,  a  flame  of  devouring  fire. 
But  it  is  otherwise  with  the  regenerate  ;  to  him  the  Deity  appears 
in  his  time  character,  as  a  Being  of  love  and  beneficence ;  and  he 
sees  that  God's  hatred  and  repenting  is  not  such  as  man's. 

In  the  same  manner  it  is  stated  that  the  moon  is  the  second 
great  light  in  the  solar  sj-stem.  This  is  also  an  apparent  truth  ; 
yet  the  humble  peasant  believes  that,  instead  of  being  the 
smallest  planet,  it  is  larger  than  the  fixed  stars.  To  him  this  is 
a  real  fact.  It  is  also  stated  that  the  serpent  was  more  subtle 
than  any  beast  of  the  field,  and  was  endowed  with  the  powers  of 
speech.  We  are  informed  that  serpent  signifies  reason  perverted, 
or  the  mind  in  the  same  situation  as  is  the  perception  of  an  infi- 
del. Thus  in  Psalm  cxl.  4,  5,  6,  it  is  said,  "They  sharpen  their 
tongue  like  a  serpent ;  adders'  poison  is  under  their  lips."  And 
again,  speaking  of  those  who  seduce  man  by  reasonings,  "  They 
go  astray  from  the  womb-,  speaking  lies ;  their  poison  is  like  the 
poison  of  a  serpent ;  they  are  like  the  deaf  adder  that  stoppeth 
her  ear,  which  will  not  hearken  to  the  voice  of  charmers,  charm- 
ing never  so  wisely." — Ps.  hiii.  3,  4,  5.  "  He  shall  suck  the  poi- 
son of  asps;  the  viper's  tongue  shall  slay  him." — Job  xx.  16. 

By  the  gift  of  reason  we  are  mainly  constituted  men ;  hence 
when  this,  the  most  important  of  all  the  mental  faculties,  abrfsed 
itself,  man  fell.  At  its  fall  the  intellect  became  perverted,  and 
cursed  or  corrupted  itself;  and  it  was  said  that  the  serpent,  or, 
allegorically,  the  reason  of  an  infidel  should  creep  upon  its  belly. 
By  this,  a  comparison  was  made  with  the  beasts  of  the  field ;  for 
they  resemble  in  many  respects  an  infidel.  Figuratively,  he  ever 
creeps  on  his  belly,  and  believes  in  nothing  but  that  which  he  can 
see,  touch,  or  taste.  Neither  does  the  beast.  All  that  the  skep- 
tic desires  or  wishes  is  selfish  enjoyment.  It  is  the  same  with 
the  animal  creation.  We  frequently  hear  it  said  that  such  a  man 
is  a  beast  or  brute ;  indeed,  we  know  that  there  are  those  who 
ai-e  guilty  of  acts  which  no  animal  was  ever  known  to  do.  Now 
a  serpent,  above  all   beasts,  is  the  most  hated,  poisonous,  and 


88  THE    FALL   OF   THE    KACE. 

loathsome ;  hence  it  was  selected  as  a  fit  emblem  and  symbol  of 
a  perverted  reason,  or  infidelity.  Serpents  also  represent  evils  of 
all  kinds ;  hence  throughout  the  Scriptures  they  are  synonymous 
with  evil  or  sin.  The  Saviour  called  the  Jews  who  were  skeptics 
serpents,  a  generation  of  vipers  ;  and  we  read  in  Revelation  of  the 
great  red  Dragon ;  and  concerning  the  "  old  serpent  called  the 
Devil  (or  a  perverted  reason),  which  deceives  the  whole  world." 
At  the  present  time  v/e  hear  it  said,  when  one  is  describing  a 
hypocrite,  that  such  a  person  is  a  .'iper,  cunning  and  subtle  as  a 
snake.  Every  person  has  the  serpent  figuratively  in  his  own 
mind.  Thus  if  evil  thoughts  are  allowed  to  enter  and  prevail 
over  our  better  judgment,  we,  in  the  same  manner  as  did  Eve  of 
old,  listen  to  the  voice  of  the  serpent,  and  have  not  Eden,  the 
garden  of  God,  within. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  whole  narra- 
tive concerning  the  serpent  is  a  spiritual  allegory — that  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Deluge  and  the  Tower  of  Babel  can  be  explained  in 
this  manner.  As  the  peasant  believes  that  the  sun  courses 
through  the  heavens,  so  likewise  do  the  Jews  and  others  believe 
that  a  real  serpent  conversed,  (fee.  As  before  remarked,  it  was 
written  thus  in  order  that  there  should  be  laid  before  every  de- 
scription of  intellect  a  simple  narrative,  and  a  record  which  could 
be  easily  comprehended,  or  such  persons  would  have  no  behef  or 
idea  concerning  creation  and  the  oris^in  of  sin. 

There  is  little  probability  that  the  Jews  in  more  modem  times 
understood,  except  in  the  literal  sense,  the  allegory.  It  was 
taught  to  them  by  the  Saviour  in  the  sense  of  the  letter,  and  in 
the  same  manner,  as  their  forefathers  understood  it.  The  ancient 
Israelites  believed  that  God  rejjentcd  and  rested,  as  also  did  many 
of  their  descendants.  Now  this  belief  and  strong  prejudice  could 
not  in  this  early  age  be  eradicated,  hence,  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  the  Christian  religion,  the  Lord  accommodated  him- 
self to  the  minds  of  the  disciples  and  their  peculiar  way  of 
thinking  ;  and  precisely  in  the  same  manner  that  a  father  does 
at  the  present  day,  who  makes  suitable  answers  to  the  ques- 
tions of  his  little  child,  concerning  many  things  which  he  is 
totally  incapable  of  comprehending.  The  Saviour,  we  are  in- 
formed, "spake  all  things  in  parables,  and  without  a  parable 
spake  he  not." 


IDOLATRY    AND    CRUELTY    OF    THE    Ji:WS.  89 

Concerning  the  idolatry  of  the  Israehtes,  and  of  their  sacnticing 
hving  victims  to  the  aUar  of  Molech  and  other  gods,  we  find, 
among  others,  the  following  texts,  which  are  adduced  from  the 
Old  Testament : 

"Thou  shalt  not  let  any  of  thy  seed  pass  through  the  fire 
to  Molech.  Defile  not  yourselves  in  any  of  these  things,  for 
in  all  these  the  nations  are  defiled  which  I  cast  out  before 
you."* 

"  And  Ahaz  made  his  son  to  pass  through  the  fire  according 
to  the  abominations  of  the  heathen,  whom  the  Lord  cast  out  from 
before  the  children  of  Israel. "f 

"Moreover,  Ahaz  burnt  incense  in  the  valley  of  the  son  of 
Hinnom,  and  burnt  his  children  after  the  abominations  of  the 
heathen.  "J 

"  And  the  Sepharvites  burnt  their  children  in  the  fire  to  Adram- 
melech  and  Anammelech,  the  gods  of  Sepharvaim."§ 

"  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel,  Behold  I 
will  bring  evil  upon  this  place,  the  which  whosoever  heareth  his 
ears  shall  tingle,  because  they  have  forsaken  me,  and  have  es- 
tranged this  place,  and  have  burnt  incense  unto  other  gods  .  .  . 
and  have  filled  this  place  with  the  blood  of  innocents.  They 
have  also  built  the  high  places  of  Baal,  to  burn  their  sons  with 
fire  for  burnt-offerings  unto  Baal,  which  I  commanded  not,  nor 
spake  it,  neither  came  it  into  my  mind."|| 

"  Yea,  they  sacrificed  their  sons  and  their  daughters  unto  de- 
mons ;  and  shed  innocent  blood,  the  blood  of  their  sons  and  of 
their  daughters  whom  they  sacrificed  unto  the  idols  of  Canaan, 
and  the  land  was  polluted  with  blood. "^jf 

"  They  have  committed  adultery,  and  blood  is  on  their  hands, 
and  with  idols  have  they  committed  adultery,  and  have  caused 
their  sons,  whom  they  bare  vmto  me,  to  pass  for  them  through 
the  fire  to  devour  them.  They  have  defiled  my  sanctuary  in  the 
same  day,  and  have  profaned  my  sabbaths.  For  when  they  had 
slain  their  children  to  their  idols,  then  they  came  the  same  day 
unto  my  sanctuary  to  profane  it."**  ' 

*  Lev.  xviii.  21,  24.  1  Jer.  xix.  3-5. 

+  2  Kings  xvi.  3.  1  Psalm  cvi.  37,  38. 

X  2  Chron.  xxviii.  3.  **  Ezek.  xxiii.  37,  38. 

§  2  Kings  xvii.  3L 


90  THE   FALL    OF   THE   KACE. 

In  reference  to  the  cnielty  of  the  ancient  Jews  to  their  cap- 
tured enemies,  we  find  the  following  in  2  Samuel  xii.  31  :  the 
statement  gives  a  true  idea  of  the  civilization  which  existed  in 
those  days.  It  is  said,  "  And  David  gathered  all  the  people  to- 
gether, and  went  to  Rabbah  (the  city  of  waters),  and  fought 
against  it,  and  took  it.  And  he  took  their  king's  crown  from  off 
his  head,  the  Aveight  whereof  was  a  talent  of  gold,  with  the 
precious  stones,  and  it  was  set  on  David's  head.  And  he  brought 
foith  the  spoil  of  the  city  in  great  abundance.  And  he  brought 
forth  the  people  that  were  therein,  and  put  them  under  saws, 
and  under  harrows  of  iron,  and  under  axes  of  iron,  and  made 
them  pass  through  the  brick-kiln ;  and  thus  did  he  ^lnto  all 
the  cities  of  the  children  of  Amnion.  So  David  and  all  the 
people  returned  unto  Jerusalem."  (See,  on  this  subject,  1  Chron. 
XX.  3.) 

Concerning  the  wickedness  of  many  of  the  prophets  of  Israel, 
we  find  the  following  in  Jeremiah  xxiii.  10:  "For  the  land  is 
full  of  adulterers ;  for  because  of  swearing  the  land  mourneth, 
the  pleasant  places  of  the  A\ilderness  are  dried  up,  and  their 
course  is  evil  and  their  force  is  not  right.  For  both  prophet 
and  priest  are  profane ;  yea,  in  my  house  have  I  found  their 
wickedness,  saith  the  Lord."  Also  in  v.  14:  "I  have  seen  also 
in  the  prophets  of  Jerusalem  an  horrible  thing  :  thev  commit  adul- 
tery and  Avalk  in  lies ;  they  strengthen  also  the  hands  of  evil- 
doers, that  none  doth  return  from  his  Avickedness ;  they  are  all 
of  them  unto  me  as  Sodom,  and  the  inhabitants  thereof  as  Go- 
moiTah." 

That  the  Israelites  Avere,  notAvithstanding  their  great  and  pre- 
eminent advantages,  AA'orse  than  many  other  nations,  is  shoAATi  in 
various  parts  of  the  Scriptures.  Thus  in  Ezekiel  xai.  48,  51,  it 
is  said :  "  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  Sodom,  thy  sister,  hath 
not  done,  she  nor  her  daughters,  as  thou  hast  done,  thou  and  thy 
daughters.  Behold,  this  Avas  the  iniquity  of  thy  sister  Sodom : 
pride,  fulness  of  bread,  and  abundance  of  idleness,  Avas  in  her 
and  in  her  daughters  ;  neither  did  she  strengthen  the  hand  of  the 
poor  and  needy.  And  they  .  were  haughty,  and  committed 
abominations  before  me  ;  therefore  I  took  them  away  as  I  saw 
good.  Neither  hath  Samaria  committed  half  of  thy  sins  :  but 
thou  hast  midtiphed  thine  abominations  more  than  thev,  and  hast 


EXOnMITIHS    OF    THE   JEWS.  91 

justified  thy  sisters  in  all  thine  abominations  which  thou  hast 
done." 

In  Matthew  xi.  21,  it  is  said:  "Woe  unto  thee,  Chorazin!  woe 
unto  thee,  Bethsaida !  for  if  the  mighty  works  which  were  done 
in  you  had  been  done  in  Tyre  and  Sidon,  they  would  have  re- 
pented long  ago  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  But  I  say  unto  you,  It 
shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Tyre  and  Sidon  at  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, than  for  you.  And  thou,  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted 
unto  heaven,  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell ;  for  if  the  mighty 
works  which  have  been  done  in  thee  had  been  done  in  Sodom,  it 
wuuld  have  remained  until  this  day.  But  I  say  unto  you,  That 
it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom,  in  the  day  of 
judgment,  than  for  thee.'' 

We  have  been  induced  to  give  the  above  citations  concerning 
the  Jews,  not  only  to  prove  what  has  been  said,  but  also  to  show 
that  if  ever  a  bad  and  wicked  people  existed,  it  was  the  Jewish 
nation.  The  frequent  sacrifice  in  former  times  of  their  own  chil- 
dren ;  the  sa\age-like  treatment  of  the  helpless  captive ;  their  dis- 
recj-ard  of  mii-acles  such  as  never  before  or  since  have  been 
wrouo-ht ;  their  contempt  of  the  greatest  favors  and  the  kmdest 
admonitions  ;  their  disregard  of  innumerable  opportunities  given 
for  reformation,  and  which  were  continued  for  centuries  ;  their  still 
continuing  in  evil  practices  when  they  knew  and  acknowledged  that 
they  were  evil,  and  that  if  persisted  in,  certain  desolation  and  ruin 
would  result ;  their  pride,  selfishness,  and  brutality ;  their  stoning 
of  holy  men  sent  to  them,  and  their  final  torture  and  crucifixion 
of  the  Lord,  the  Saviour — all  evince  that  if  ever  a  nation  deserved 
to  be  called  serpents,  a  generation  of  vipers,  it  was  this  people 
Many  have  supposed  that  they  were  a  chosen  people  of  God,  and 
so  they  were,  but  chosen  only  because  the  time  had  arrived  Avhen 
some  of  the  barbarous  nations  who  then  existed  should  be  se- 
lected as  mstruments  of  the  new  dispensation. 

If  it  be  said  that  the  great  Being  caused  them  to  act  in  the 
manner  they  did,  it  might  Avith  equal  consistency  be  said  that  the 
Deity  at  the  present  time  causes  mankind  to  be  wicked.  Reason 
and  the  Scriptures  inform  us,  that  "  God  tempts  no  man,  but 
that  every  one  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  lust  o;- 
evil  heart."  An  apostle  informs  us,  that  God  is  the  same  yester- 
day, to-dav,  and  forever ;  and  if  this  is  so,  and  it  cannot  be  other- 


92  THE    FALL   OF    THE    EACE. 

wise,  then  we  know  that  the  Jews,  out  of  their  own  e\il  hearts, 
and  acting  their  parts  as  free  agents,  drew  upon  themselves  ruin 
and  desolation.  God,  Ave  are  informed,  is  no  respecter  of  persons  ; 
hence,  we  know  it  to  be  truth,  that  no  Jewish  prophet  ever  en- 
tered the  regions  of  bliss  except  according  to  his  works.  The 
mere  fact  that  a  Jew  was  leader  and  prince  in  Israel,  did  not 
weigh  one  jot  or  tittle  with  the  Lord  of  Justice,  for  it  was  his 
own  life  and  personal  character  by  which  he  was  judged.  It  is 
supposed  by  some,  that  because  the  ancient  prophets  and  others 
gave  to  the  world  those  most  beautiful  and  pious  precepts  found 
in  the  Old  Testament,  that  they  were,  on  this  account,  holy  and 
good  above  all  others.  To  God  alone  are  the  secrets  of  the 
heart  known  ;  but  it  is  true  at  the  present  time  (and  human  nature 
for  ages  has  been  the  same)  that  man  can  speak  like  an  angel,  yet 
^till  be  a  spirit  of  darkness.  The  sacred  words  of  Scripture 
which  proceeded  from  the  prophets  and  others  Avere  not  the 
thoughts  of  man,  but  the  voice  of  God.  They  were,  in  this  case, 
but  the  mere  mediums  or  mstniments  of  the  divine  providence. 
For,  as  remarked  by  the  apostle,  "  the  prophecy  came  not  in  the 
old  time  by  the  will  of  man  :  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  That  httle  Avas  knoAvn  con- 
cerning what  Avas  said,  and  of  the  dark  sayings  of  old,  is  eA'inced 
from  the  fact  of  the  crucifixion  of  the  Saviour.  When  a  prophet's 
character  can  be  found  to  be  as  spotless  as  Avas  the  martyr 
Stephen's,  John  the  Baptist's  and  others,  then  may  we  Avell  be- 
lieve that  they  are  beings  of  hohness,  and  as  angels.  But  Avhen 
we  see  a  name  stained  Avith  sin  and  crimes,  even  at  the  close  of 
his  life,  then  must  the  judgment  of  that  man,  be  he  Jew  or  Gen- 
tile, Avhether  he  lived  in  past  or  present  ages,  be  left  Avith  Him 
who  is  justice  itself,  and  Avho  is  Avithout  partiality  or  shadoAv  of 
turning. 

There  is  no  one  A\'ho  has  a  greater  respect  for  the  A^enerated 
names  of  antiquity  than  ourselves,  but  it  is  believed  that  the  time 
has  ariived  Avhen  all,  even  the  leaders  and  princes  of  Israel,  should 
be  seen  as  they  are.  The  mist  of  ages,  which  has  too  often  im- 
parted a  fictitious  aspect  to  the  names  of  many,  is,  under  the 
light  of  the  nineteenth  centmy,  fast  passing  away.  We  shall  ever 
look  upon  the  Jcavs,  in  a  certain  sense,  as  the  chosen  people  of 
God,  and  as  a  truly  Avonderful  nation ;  and  shall  ever  consider 


SOME    KEDEEMING    QUALITIES.  93 

tlie  redeeming  features  of  their  character,  and  regard  as  Avorthy 
of  emulation  the  beautiful  examples  of  piety  and  excellence  re- 
corded of  them.  Until  time  shall  be  no  longer  they  Avill  be 
known,  and  their  peculiar  habits  and  customs  scnitinized  and 
studied,  t\s  illustrative  of  the  eventful  scenes  of  Scripture ;  but 
still  our  sympathy  for  them  is  not  greater  than  for  any  other  self- 
deluded  Tjeople. 


SECTION  YIII. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  WORLD. 

Every  one  is  sensible  that  he  is  the  subject  of,  and  as  it  were 
continually  surrounded  by  good,  bad,  or  indifferent  thoughts, 
and  that  when  awake  it  is  impossible  to  cease  thinking.  Now 
the  question  arises,  Fi-om  whence  come  these  thoughts  which  put 
in  motion  the  intricate  machinery  of  the  human  body,  and  cause 
us  to  act  ?  Upon  examination,  Ave  find  that  they  appear  to  be 
generated  in  the  brain,  and  that  the  head  is  the  residence  of  the 
intellect.  If,  upon  dissecting  the  brain  to  discover  and  see  these 
thoughts,  we  can  find  nothing  except  a  mass  of  soft  and  hfeless 
matter,  the  vital  principle  being  gone,  still  the  inquiry  presents 
itself.  From  whence  comes  this  vital  principle  ?  What  is  it  ?  To 
this  we  reply,  that  it  comes  from  God.  But  here  again  the 
mind  is  bewildered,  and  asks,  Who  and  what  is  God  ?  To  this 
we  rejoin,  that  he  is  benevolence  itself  and  wisdom  itself;*  or,  in 
other  Avords,  he  is  the  great,  eternal,  and  invisible  fountain  from 
AA'hich  every  benevolent  and  wise  thought  proceeds.  What  causes 
the  oak  of  the  forest,  and  all  the  vfist  and  varied  products  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  to  live,  grow,  and  spring  as  if  from  nothing  ? 
It  is  the  light  and  heat  of  the  sun,  which  infuses  into  them  a  vital 
principle,  and  without  which  they  could  not  exist.  Xoav  we  are 
infoiTued  that  the  Deity  is,  as  it  were,  an  invisible  sun  of  thoughts  ; 

*  "  If  you  collect,"  says  Swedenborg,  "  all  the  thinors  that  you  know,  and 
place  them  under  the  intuition  of  your  mind,  and  inquire  in  some  elevation 
of  spirit  what  is  the  universal  of  them  all,  you  cannot  conclude  otherwise 
than  that  it  is  love  and  icisdom ;  forth'ese  two  principles  are  the  essentials  of 
all  things  of  the  life  of  man  :  all  things  civil,  moral,  and  spiritual,  belonging 
to  him,  depend  upon  these  two,  and  without  these  two  thev  are  nothing." 
—1).  L.  '-'8. 


CONSTITUENTS    OF    THE    INNER    JilAN.  95 

and  that  in  the  same  manner  as  the  sun  gives  life  to  a  tree  and 
causes  it  to  exist,  so  docs  the  Deity  shine  into  the  intellect,  the 
heart,  and  body  of  man,  and  cause  him  to  live.  If  this' invisible 
sun  did  not  exist,  neither  could  man.  From  this  it  can  be  seen 
that  God  alone  is  life  ;  all  others  are  hat  i-ecijnents.  He  alone  is 
the  vine,  others  are  but  the  branches.  He  is  the  sole  source  of 
life,  or,  as  remarked  by  the  evangelist,  "  in  him  ishfe,  and  the  hfe 
is  the  (only  and  tme)  light  of  man."  Wherever  he  shines,  there 
is  light,  and  peace,  and  hope,  and  joy ;  Avherever  he  withdraws 
his  beams,  all  is  darkness  and  desolation.  Because  this  Father  of 
Light,  this  Heaven's  Sun,  cannot  be  seen,  his  existence  should  not 
be  doubted.  We  cannot  see  the  soul,  yet  there  are  few  or  none 
who  do  not  believe  there  is  something,  a  vital  power  or  energy 
which  causes  the  body  to  live,  and  which  is  seemingly  dissipated 
at  death. 

Before  proceeding  further,  let  us  examine  the  nature  of  what 
is  called  the  soul.  Swedenborg,  in  regard  to  this  subject,  in- 
forms us,  that  Avhat  St.  Paul  terms  the  inner  man  consists  of 
three  things :  first,  a  spiritual  body  ;  second,  the  soul,  or  that 
tvhich  thinks ;  and  third,  the  vital  principle,  or  breath  of  life. 
According  to  him,  the  spiritual  body  resides,  as  water  does  in  a 
porous  substance,  within  the  natural  body.  It  is  asserted  that 
the  spiritual  body  is  a  fac-simile  of  the  natural,  and  in  such  a  de- 
gree that,  if  the  two  were  placed  together,  no  difference  could  be 
discerned  ;  and  the  ancient  saying  that  every  man  has  his  double, 
would  before  the  natural  eye  be  verified. 

This  explanation  appears  to  us  as  most  rational,  and  it  is  diffi- 
cult, if  not  impossible,  to  conceive  of  the  inner  man  existing  except 
as  represented.  If  it  is  asserted  that  the  soul  exists  after  the 
death  of  the  body,  difterently,  and  as  an  ethereal  vapor,  it  renders 
us  unable  to  believe  the  soul  is  human,  if  it  does  not  altogether 
make  its  existence  a  nonentity.  Swedenborg's  explanations  are 
confirmed  by  the  Scriptures,  and  we  are  repeatedly  informed  that 
the  spirit,  or  inner  man,  of  a  departed  friend  exists  in  the  human 
form.  This  is  shown,  first,  from  the  reason  that  alj  spiritual 
beings,  or  angels,  who  ever  have-  been  seen  in  this  world,  have 
invariably  appeared  in  the  form  of  men.  St.  Mark  informs  us 
that,  after  the  resurrection,  the  women  who  went  to  the  Lord's 
sepulchre  saw,  on  entering  it,  "  a  young  man  sitting  on  the  right 


96  THE   SPIKITUAL    "SVOKLB. 

side  clothed  in  a  Avliite  garment.'"''  Moses  and  Elias,  at  the 
mount  of  transfiguration,  must  have  appeared  as  human  beings, 
or  the  disciples  would  not  have  known  them.  The  angels  who 
made  themselves  visible  to  Abraham,  Lot,  and  many  of  the 
prophets,  were  in  the  human  form.  The  Saviour,  after  the  res- 
urrection, appeared  in  the  like  manner.  The  fact  that  man,  after 
the  death  of  the  body,  exists  in  the  human  form,  is  so  self-e\ident, 
that  we  will  not  adduce  other  passages  (though  the  Scriptures  are 
filled  with  the  like,  to  prove  the  Doint) ;  and  a  slight  examina- 
tion is  sufficient  to  show,  that  if  the  soul  is  to  have  a  being,  be 
capable  of  receiving  God's  love  and  wisdom,  it  must  necessarily 
exist  in  a  form  which  is  human. 

There  are  many  who  have  procured  to  themselves  an  idea  con- 
cerning spirits,  that  they  are  not  substantial,  or  beings  of  positive 
reality.  But  in  regard  to  this  belief,  we  are  informed  that  a 
greater  fallacy  never  was  made  known,  and  that  the  inner  man  is 
altogether  as  substantial  and  real  a  person  as  can  be  found  in 
this  world.  It  is  said,  that  so  exact  and  life-like  a  resemblance  is  a 
spiritual  man,  that  in  him  can  be  found  all  the  intricate  machinery 
of  the  human  frame — the  Aeins,  the  arteries,  the  heart,  the  lungs, 
the  glowing  countenance,  the  sparkhng  eye,  the  exalted  intellect — 
nothing  being  wanting.  That  man  at  death  has  a  spiritual  body, 
and  which  is  composed  of  S2nritual  substances,  is  evinced  from 
the  Scriptures.  Thus  St.  Paul,  in  the  1st  of  Corinthians,  in- 
fonns  us,  "  There  are  also  celestial  bodies  and  bodies  terrestrial ; 
but  the  glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the  terres- 
trial is  another.  It  is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual 
body,     l^iere  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body." 

Notwithstanding  the  above  texts,  which  are  repeated  in  other 
places,  there  are  those  of  the  present  day  Avho  disbelieve  in  the 
existence  of  spiritual  substances.  But  such  persons  are  in  a  great 
eiTor,  and  their  theory,  if  applied  to  God,  would  deny  his  exist- 
ence. Thus  the  Supreme  Ruler  must  be  something  or  nothing. 
If  something,  as  he  cannot  be  either  the  sun,  atmosphere,  moon, 
stars,  or  earth,  he  must  be  a  spiritual  substance,  or  nothing,  a 
nonentity,  and  nowhere.  That  God  is  a  spiritual  substance,  is 
plain  from  liis  being  so  designat-ed  ;  and  it  is  a  fundamental  part 

'    .,  *  Mark  xvi.  5, 


SPIKITUAL    SUBSTANCES    REAL.  97 

of  Christian  theology,  that  God  is  a  substance  ;  that  though  there 
are  three  persons,  yet  these  are  one  substance.  This  belief  is 
also  shown  from  the  fact  that  the  Saviour  arose  a  spiritual  sub- 
stance. One  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  skepticism  of  the  present 
day,  is  the  teaching  that  the  soul  is  not  a  spiritual  substance  ;  for, 
as  remarked,  it  must  lead  to  a  direct  negation  of  the  real  existence 
of  God,  and  of  the  soul ;  for  every  man  of  common  sense  will  ask, 
How  can  that  be  real  wliich  is  unsubstantial  ?  Must  not  its  exist- 
ence, after  all,  be  ideal  ? 

At  the  first,  it  appears  difficult  to  conceive  how  it  is  possible 
there  can  be  spiritual  substances,  much  more  that  the  soul  or 
inner  man  is  a  substance.  But  this  difficulty  arises  from  a  super- 
ficial examination,  and  from  om-  having  been  educated  in  the  belief 
that  nothing  is  a  substance  but  that  which  can  be  seen,  tasted,  and 
felt.  Yet  this  is  a  fallacy,  and  there  are  many  things  which  are 
known  to  be  substances  which  cannot  be  seen.  Thus,  take  the 
agent  kno^vn  as  magnetism ;  who,  from  a  casual  observation, 
would  suppose  that  it  possessed  those  qualities  peculiar  to  it  ? 
Take  one  wholly  uneducated,  and  inform  him  that  there  exists 
within  and  about  a  magnet  an  invisible  substance,  something 
tohich  is  not  ideal,  a  power  which  is  capable  of  the  greatest 
effort,  and  bidding  fair,  for  many  purposes,  to  supersede  the  use 
of  steam ;  he  will,  because  he  cannot  comprehend  the  matter, 
nor  see  the  agent,  deny  it  as  the  height  of  absurdity. 

Now,  if  it  be  time  there  exists  such  an  agent,  one  which  is  in- 
capable of  being  seen  by  the  natural  eye,  and  which  is  imponder- 
able, and  apparently  lacking  all  the  qualities  generally  supposed 
to  compose  a  substance,  why,  we  say,  is  there  any  thing  so 
strange  and  incredible  in  supposing  that  there  exists  in  the  human 
frame  an  invisible  substance,  Avhich,  at  the  death  of  the  natural 
body,  can  withdraw,  and,  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  itself,  reappear, 
and  put  on  the  appearance  of  a  living  man  ?  So  far  from  its 
being  incredible,  it  is  a  sound  inference ;  and  it  is  chiefly  because 
we  cannot,  with  the  natural  eye,  see  this  spiritual  body,  and  the 
time  when  it  withdraws  itself,  that  we  doubt  its  e.xistence. 

In  respect  to  the  form  in  which  God  exists,  we  are  informed 
that  he  appears  and  has  a  being,  in  the  same  di\ine  form  in  which 
•he  existed  when  he  took  leave  of  his  disciples.     This  view  appears 


9S  TIIE   SPIRITUAL   AVORLD. 

rational ;  indeed,  to  us  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  how  lie  can 
exist  except  in  the  human  form.  If  he  existed,  as  supposed  by 
some,  as  a  diffused  essence,  it  would  be  impossible  to  have  any 
idea  of  him,  much  more  to  think  of  him  as  a  being  who  took  an 
interest  in  man's  Avelfare,  or  was  one  whom  we  could  love  and 
respect.  The  idea  would,  as  it  has  with  many,  verge  into  ma- 
terialism ;  and  the  belief  arise  that  electricity,  which  is  a  diffused 
essence,  was  God,  and  governed  the  world.  An  eminent  writer 
on  this  subject  with  great  justness,  remarks,  that  "  if  we  cannot 
attribute  form  to  God,  because  it  implies  limit,  so  neither  can  we 
for  the  same  reason  attribute  any  thing  to  him,  or  frame  any  con- 
ception of  his  nature.  For  all  the  ideas  we  can  entertain  of  him 
necessarily  imply  limit,  inasmuch  as  the  ideas  themselves  are 
hmited,  being  those  of  a  limited,  finite  creature  ;  yet  we  do  not, 
for  that  reason,  cease  to  consider  cei"tain  perfections  as  belonging 
to  the  divine  nature.  None  but  an  infinite  being  can  have  infinite, 
and  therefore  adequate,  ideas  of  himself ;  all  finite  ideas,  however 
exalted,  must  have  form,  limit,  and  boundary,*  as  truly  so  as  the 
senses  or  sensations  of  the  body.  The  objection,  therefore,  de- 
rived from  the  idea  of  form,  is  as  applicable  to  all  intellectual 
ideas,  however  abstracted,  as  it  is  to  sensational  impressions. 
Let  any  ideas  of  God  entertained  by  a  creature,  however  intellect- 
ual, however  abstracted,  nay,  however  angelic  or  spiritual,  be 
embodied,  and  that  embodiment  will  as  certainly  present  a  defi- 
nite hmitation  as  any  object  presented  to  the  senses.  The  objec- 
tion, therefore,  derived  from  the  idea  of  form,  if  allowed,  would 
tend  to  deprive  us  of  entertaining  any  idea  of  the  Deitv  whatever ; 
for  the  only  idea  we  could  entertain  is,  that  which  is  formless: 
hence  indefinite,  indeterminate,  chaotic,  confused ;  which  is  vir- 
tually no  idea,  because  it  has  no  form,  and  that  which  has  no 
form  has  no  quality,  and  that  which  has  neither  form  nor  quality 
is  a  nonentity."* 

The  above  reasoning  we  think  unanswerable ;  and  it  can  be 
seen  that,  as  is  said,  "  If  we  cannot  ascribe  form  to  God,  neither 
can  we  attribute  any  thing  to  him,  or  frame  any  conception  of  his 
nature." 

That  it  is  not  irrational  to  beheve  that  the  Deity  exists  in  a 

*  Clissold's  End  of  the  Church,  p.  393. 


GOD   EXISTS   IN    A   HUMAN   FOKISI.  99 

diAnne  fomi,  is  also  exhibited  from  the  Scriptures.  Thus,  in 
Genesis,  it  is  said,  "  God  made  man  after  his  own  likeness  and 
iniaoe."  If  truth  is  spoken  in  these  words,  this  alone  is  sufficient 
to  show  that  the  great  Being  exists  in  the  human  form.  When- 
ever he  has  manifested  himself  upon  earth,  he  has  ever  appeared 
in  the  human  shape.  Thus,  in  Genesis  (chap.  xvii.  1),  it  is  said, 
"  The  iJord  appeared  to  Abraham,  and  said  unto  hun,  I  am  the 
Almighty  God :  walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect."*  And 
in  chap,  xviii.  it  is  -written,  that  "  the  Lord  appeared  to  Abra- 
ham on  the  plain  of  ]Mamre,  and  he  sat  in  the  tent  door  in  the 
heat  of  the  day."  We  also  read,  that  "  Moses  and  Aaron,  Na- 
dab  and  Abihu,  and  seventy  of  the  elders  of  Israel,  went  up  into 
Mount  Sinai,  and  saw  God."f  The  Saviour  also  confirms  our 
assertion,  by  informing  his  disciples  that  he  that  hath  seen  him 
hath  seen  the  Father  :  "  I  and  the  Father  are  one." 

Swedenborg  states  that  Paul  taught  a  real  truth  Avhen  he  in- 
foi-med  the  Corinthians,  that  "  the>j  {including  all  Christians) 
were  the  body  of  Christ  and  members  in  2}articular."l  Accord- 
ino-  to  him,  as  a  society  of  men  in  this  world  is  known  and  dis- 
tinouished  as  a  bodv  haA-ing  its  head  and  members,  so  likewise  is 
it  in  the  heavens ;  and  all  there,  with  God  as  the  head,  go  to 
form  one  grand  corporate  body ;  each  one  taking  his  place,  and 
all  hai-moniously  acting  so  as  to  represent  one  and  be  one.     Swe- 

*  A  writer  on  this  subject  observes,  that  when  our  Father  comes  before 
the  thoiijrht  for  prayer,  and  worship,  and  love,  he  comes  there  as  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  Jehovah,  God.  And  when  he  appears  to  tlie  senses  of  men 
or  angels,  and  when  he  has  so  appeared  in  former  times,  he  is  and  was  mani- 
fest to  sense,  by  filling  an  angel  with  his  presence  so  fully,  that  the  individual 
nature  of  the  ancfel  is  latent  and  inactive.  An  angel  so  filled  with  the  Divine 
is  called  in  Scripture  the  angel  of  the  Lord.  As  in  the  third  chapter 
of  Exodus  it  is  said,  "The  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  (Moses) 
out  of  the  midst  of  a  bush  ;  and  God  called  unto  him  out  of  the  midst  of  the 
bush,  and  said,  I  am  the  God  of  thy  father;  and  Moses  hid  his  face,  for  he 
was  afraid  to  look  upon  God."  The  word  translated  "angel,"  both  in  Hebrew 
and  Greek,  or  in  the  Old  and  New  Testiments,  signifies  one  sent.  But  his 
constant  presence  in  the  heavens  is  as  the  sun  of  heaven.  The  angels  ever 
see  this  sun.  They  do  not  call  it  Mni,  nor  tldnk  it  him,  nor  worship  it  in  his 
place;  but  they  know  that  within  it,  and  always  acting  through  it,  he  is  a 
man,  a  divine  man,  from  whose  divine  humanity  their  own  is  continually 
derived.  As  a  divine  man,  they  worship  and  they  love  him ;  and  it  is  their 
constant  etfort  to  bring  men  into  that  love  and  worship,  without  which  there 
is  no  beginning  of  anselie  life  on  earth,  and  no  preparation  for  it. 
t  Exodus  xxiv.  9.  ^  II  t''^!'-  -^i'-  27. 


100  THE   SPIRITUAL   WOKLD. 

denborg's  explanations  on  this  subject  are  but  little  known,  yet 
they  are  of  importance  ;  and  by  them  is  shown  that  if  ever  God's 
kingdom  is  to  come  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,  it  must  be  by  con- 
sidering the  human  race  as  a  diseased  body,  Avith  diseased  mem- 
bers ;  and  no  more  must  the  eye  say  to  the  head,  I  have  no  need 
of  thee,  or  the  head  to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need  of  thee ;  but 
each  member  must  consider  the  other,  no  matter  how  insignifi- 
cant, of  importance,  and  by  whose  assistance  alone  the  great 
body  can  be  restored  and  preserved,  and  formed  into  the  stature 
of  a  perfect  man. 

But  without  farther  examination  of  this  subject,  which  it  would 
require  an  entire  section  properly  to  exhibit,  let  us  examine  other 
explanations  which  are  equally  important ;  and  fii-st,  in  respect  to 
the  existence  of  our  friends  in  another  life.  It  is  evident  that  if 
after  death  they  live  and  have  a  being,  they  must  exist  some- 
where. We  are  informed  that  the  inner  man,  or  spirit,  when  it 
leaves  the  body,  goes  to  the  vast  and  hidden  world,  or  what  is 
called  the  Spiritual  World.  This  world  is  composed  of  Heaven 
and  Hell,  and  the  World  of  Spirits,  or  that  place  or  state  to 
which  all  go  at  first,  and  before  taking  up  then*  final  abode  in 
Heaven  or  Hell.  It  may  be  asked.  Where  is  the  other  World  ? 
To  this  we  reply,  that  it  is  out  of  nature  :  neither  in  the  stars,  sun, 
nor  atmosphere,  or  world  without,  but  in  the  world  within.  A 
world  not  in  space,  but  one  W'hich  is  of  an  internal  or  spiritual 
nature.* 

In  this  hidden  and  invisible  world,  which  is  as  incapable  of  be- 
ing seen  or  pointed  out  to  the  natural  eye,  as  it  is  to  see  the  soul, 
which  is  nevertheless  kno\\Ti  to  exist,  all  are  to  five.  In  this 
world,  we  are  informed,  there  can  be  found  (composed  of  spir- 

*  There  are  those  who  doubt  concerning  another  existence,  and  chiefly 
because  it  is  not  obvious  to  the  senses.  If  the  phenomenon  which  is  wit- 
nessed in  a  dream  is  exhibited,  it  is  ridiculed.  But  to  such  persons  we 
would  say,  Be  not  too  certain  that  all  is  a  delusion.  There  may  be  more  in 
the  explanation  than  you  have  believed  possible.  What  if  a  dream  itself 
gave  a  true  idea  of  another  life  ?  Is  it  not  true  that  when  in  this  state  (and 
it  is  a  mental  one)  we  are  in  a  world  without  space  or  time  ?  Are  not  the 
spiritual  objects  seen  as  real  and  life-like  as  those  exhibited  in  this  life  ? 
Are  they  not  mental  creations  ?  Does  a  man  stop  to  argue  the  question 
whether  the  spiritual  objects  seen  in  a  dream  are  made  of  such  substances 
as  he  finds  in  this  life?  Do  they  not  appear  to  Urn  ior  the  time  being  as 
such?    If  they  and  he  ever  remained  in  this  state,  would  not  the  mcnt  il 


EVroENCE   OF   A    FUTUKE   STATE.  101 

itual  substances)  every  thing  which  exists  in  this  life.  Houses, 
palaces,  cities,  trees,  the  beautiful  landscape,  Avaters,  mountains, 
the  blue  sky,  the  stars,  the  moon,  the  heaven-inspiring  sun,  and 
all  that  can  gratify  the  eye,  or  please  the  senses,  or  delight  and  im- 
prove the  mind.  It  appears  to  us  rational  that  it  should  be  so ; 
for  what  is  it  in  this  world  which  enjoys  itself?  It  is  the  spirit, 
which  alone  is  the  real  man.  Can  a  dead  body  enjoy,  think,  or 
feel  ?  It  cannot,  and  is  similar  to  the  lifeless  body  of  an  animal. 
It  is  therefore  evinced  that  it  is  not  in  reality  the  body  which  en- 
joys itself,  but  it  is  the  soul  or  inner  man  Avhich  lives.  If  so, 
what  is  there  irrational  in  believing  that  this  inner  man  will  pro- 
ceed to  another  world  and  continue  to  exercise  that  intellect  and 
those  senses  and  feelings  which  were  made  use  of  in  this  ?  To  sup- 
pose the  contrary  would  render  human  existence  the  most  unsolva- 
ble  of  enigmas,  and  cause  us  to  believe  that  man  was  made  solely  to 
dig  and  delve  in  this  life,  and  never  arise  from  the  ignoble  condition 
in  which  he  might  be  placed.  The  supposition,  also,  would  not 
only  show  that  the  Great  Being  was  without  a  purpose  and  plan, 
and  that  the  miracles  which  have  been  Avrought,  the  education 
which  is  bestowed,  and  trials  which  are  endured,  are  for  nothing, 
but  it  would  also  evince  that  God  was  an  unjust  Being ;  for  in 
this  world  we  continually  see  the  good  suffering  and  the  wicked 
enjoying :  hence  from  a  necessity  of  things  there  must  be  another 
existence  in  which  compensation  will  be  made  and  justice  ren- 
dered. 

Probably  one  of  the  greatest  proofs  we  have  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  is  the  testimony  of  human  consciousness.  Let,  in  the 
solitude  of  the  chamber,  the  question  be  asked,  Whether  there  is 
a  life  after  death  and  a  judgment  to  come  ?  and  there  are  few  to 
whom  the  inner  voice  will  not  answer  in  terms  not  to  be  misun- 
derstood, that  such  is  the  solemn  truth.  So  well  were  the  facts 
in  regard  to  a  future  state  impressed  on  the  minds  of  some  of  the 
ancient  philosophers,  that  so  far  from  questioning  the  great  truth, 

creations  become  real  spiritual  substances,  and  far  more  deserving  the  name 
of  substance  than  the  perishable  things  of  this  life?  We  believe  that  it 
-would  be  difficult  to  answer  these  queries ;  and  until  they  have  been,  and 
the  startling  facts  pertaining  to  this  subject  exhibited  by  tlie  agency  of  mag- 
netism or  mesmerism  have  been  explained,  we  think  the  slieptic  may  well 
hesitate  before  he  concludes  that  death  is  an  eternal  sleep.  "  Behold,"  says 
the  Saviour,  "  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." 


102  THE  SPrRITUAL  WOKLD. 

they  taught  that  the  death  of  the  body  Avas  in  reahty  but  the  be- 
ginning of  life,  and  the  commencement  of  a  never-ending  exist- 
ence. Even  the  Aborigines  of  this  country  beheved,  that 
although  they  buried  the  body  of  a  friend,  and  left  it  to  molder 
into  dust,  the  friend,  the  vian,  lived  still,  and  went  to  a  happier 
world. 

That  in  the  heavens  there  are  spiritual  mansions,  and  that  an- 
gels and  spirits  are  clothed  in  spiritual  garments,  is  shown  from 
the  Scriptures.  Thus  (in  John  xiv.  2)  the  Saviour  says  :  "  In  my 
Father's  house  are  many  mansions ;  if  it  were  not  so  I  would 
have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  (or  habitation)  for  you." 
St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  says,  alluding  to  the  en- 
joyments and  happiness  of  another  existence,  "  But  now  they  (/.  e. 
those  who  live  in  faith)  desire  a  better  country,  that  is  an  heavenly : 
wherefore  God  is  not  ashamed  to  be  called  their  God ;  for  he 
bath  prepared  for  them  a  city'"  (xi.  16).  St.  John,  in  the 
Revelation,  informs  the  reader  concerning  an  immense  multitude 
that  he  beheld  in  the  Spiritual  World,  which  no  man  could  num- 
ber, who  stood  before  the  throne  clothed  in  white  garments  and 
with  palms  in  their  hands ;  and  also  throughout  the  book,  are 
mentioned  as  existing  in  the  hidden  world  objects  found  in  this : 
and  if  this  is  so,  and,  as  we  are  informed,  and  as  generally  be- 
lieved, good  men  at  death  become  as  angels,  why  should  not  the 
spirit  of  a  departed  friend,  the  spiritual  body  mentioned  by  Paul, 
be  clothed  in  a  garment  and  live  in  a  spiritual  mansion  ?  To  as- 
sert to  the  contrary,  we  hardly  need  say,  would  be  asserting  to  a 
self-evident  absurdity. 

It  is  supposed  by  some  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  other  world 
do  nothing  but  emplov  themselves  in  religious  duties,  such  as 
praying  and  singing,  and  this  eternally  and  without  cessation  dav 
or  night.  It  is  evident  that  if  such  a  hfe  in  this  world  should  be 
attempted  by  any  one,  no  matter  how  good  and  pious  he  might 
be,  it  would  soon  be  found  the  reverse  of  happiness,  and  the 
most  fatiguing  and  monotonous  of  all  things.  We  are  informed 
that  the  same  laws  Avhich  hold  good  m  regard  to  this  subject  in 
this  world,  are  apphcable  to  the  other ;  and  that  neither  men  nor 
angels  procure  or  receive  a  life  of  happiness  by  continually  sing- 
ing and  praising.  This  belief,  which  is  now  extensively  circulated, 
derived  its  origin  from  the  Israelites.     To  pniduce  an  effect  upon 


JEWISH   IDEAS   OF   HEAVEN.  103 

their  darkened  intellects,  it  being  almost  impossible  to  reason  with 
them,  the  most  magniticent  promises  were  made,  and  the  most 
fearful  of  punishments  threatened.  Heaven  was  represented  to 
them  as  a  perfect  ecstasy  of  happiness,  and  the  fallen  abode  as 
an  unceasing  and  indescribable  agony  of  pain — a  lake  and  furnace 
of  material  fire.  The  Jews  Avere  taught  concerning  future  re- 
wards and  punishments,  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  is  done 
with  children  at  the  present  day.  They  had  a  beUef  that  after 
death,  if  good  and  deserving,  this  ecstasy  of  happiness  would  by 
some  means  be  instilled  into  them,  and  that  they  were  to  receive 
it  without  exertion  on  their  part.  They  also  believed  that  labor 
was  a  curse  sent  upon  them ;  and  understood  m  its  literal  sense 
the  passage  where  it  is  said,  that  "  in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt 
thou  eat  bread  ;"  and  believed  that  man  before  his  fall  led  an  indo- 
lent life  and  did  not  exercise  his  bodily  and  mental  faculties,  yet 
notwithstanding  enjoyed  life  in  the  greatest  degree.  From  the 
promulgation  of  this  most  erroneous  and  false  of  all  beliefs,  the 
majority  of  mankind  have,  as  they  supposed,  endeavored  to  free 
themselves  from  this  ctu'se ;  and  have  attempted,  as  the  great 
end  of  their  life,  to  prociu-e  a  situation  or  wealth  sufficient  to  en- 
able them  to  live  Avithout  work  or  exertion  of  any  kind.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  adduce  much  argument  to  show  that  if  such  persons 
are  permitted  to  reach  the  goal,  the  heaven  of  their  supposed 
happiness,  they  find  in  a  short  time  that  it  is  no  heaven,  but 
altogether  the  contrary,  and  that  they  do  not  enjoy  life  as  much  as 
when  exerting  themselves  in  acquiring  that  property  which  placed 
them  in  their  present  situation.  They  find,  that  like  an  inactive 
piece  of  noble  machinery,  they  are  fairly  rusting  out,  and  are 
gradually  being  destroyed  either  by  disease,  or  the  fiend  eninti 
and  melancholv. 

An  eminent  writer  and  physiologist  remarks  on  this  subject, 
that  "  if  the  higher  and  wealthy  classes  do  not  engage  in  some 
active  pursuit  so  as  to  give  scope  for  their  energies,  they  suffer 
the  evils  of  ennui,  morbid  irritability,  and  excessive  relaxation  of 
the  functions  of  the  mind  and  body,  which  carry  in  their  train 
moj-e  suffering  than  is  entailed  on  the  operatives  by  excessive 
labor."  The  truth  .of  the  above  observations  is  universallv  ad- 
mitted ;  and  it  is  shown  to  be  a  law  of  the  Deity,  fixed  and  un- 
changeable, that  if  the  rich  or  poor  wish  for  happiness,  thev  mast 


104  I'HE   SPIRITUAL    WORLD. 

not  lead  an  indolent  life,  but  exercise  their  powers  of  mind  and 
body,  and  this  in  a  manner  useful  to  their  fellow-beings.  Now 
we  are  informed  that  the  same  great  law  holds  good  in  the  other 
world,  and  that  there,  as  here,  it  is  equally  impossible  to  destroy 
man's  freedom,  or  transform  him  into  an  automaton  and  make 
him  a  passive  recipient  of  happiness.  It  is  stated  that  no  indo- 
lent or  useless  person  can  breathe  the  air  of  heaven,  and  that  it  is 
only  by  the  active  exercise  of  his  nobler  powers  that  he  is  enabled, 
with  God's  assistance,  to  procun-^  to  himself  a  hfe  of  enjoyment. 

The  great  difficulty  on  this  subject  is,  that  the  law  of  our  being 
is  not  properly  appreciated,  and  there  are  many  whc*cjass  the 
slavish  and  life-wearing  labor  with  that  happy  work  in  which  the 
mind  and  the  body  are  employed,  and  this  in  a  manner  Avhich  is 
sufficient  to  exercise  all  the  powers,  yet  still  not  to  abuse  or  over- 
task them.  Such  a  life  as  this  is  not  one  of  toil,  but  of  enjoy- 
?ment ;  and  there  is  no  rational  being,  who,  if  he  had  the  ability, 
woidd  desire  to  be  released  from  it.  What  is  so  gratifying  to 
the  man  who  has  the  faculty  of  constructiveness  large,  as  the 
amusement  afforded  by  the  use  of  the  implements  of  the  carpen- 
ter or  the  joiner  ?  When  he  is  thus  employed  he  experiences  a 
Y&re  deliffht.  And  it  is  the  same  with  the  statesman,  the  orator, 
the  painter,  the  sculptor,  and  the  farmer,  when  they  have  rightly 
chosen  the  profession  for  which  nature  qualified  them.  It  is  the 
wrong  choosing  and  selection  of  professions,  trades,  and  employ- 
ments, which  causes  so  many  failures,  and  work  to  be  looked  upon 
as  a  task. 

We  are  informed  that  in  the  hidden  world,  each  person  is  ap- 
pointed to  that  office  for  which  his  talents,  his  mind,  is  exactly 
suited ;  something  which  he  can  perform  better  than  any  thing 
else,  and  which  he  will  take  a  delight,  a  pride  in  doing.  In  this 
case  it  could  hardly  be  considered  as  work,  but  a  pleasant  exercise. 

Dr.  D wight,  on  this  subject,  concurs  with  us.  In  his  discourse 
concerning  the  residence,  the  character,  the  employments,  and  the 
enjoyments  of  the  redeemed,  he  says :  "  To  praise  God  for  the 
perfections  of  bis  nature  is  unquestionably  a  universal  and  eternal 
duty,  "3  well  as  delightful  employment  of  intelligent  creatures. 
Far  be  it  from  me  to  undervalue  the  importance  or  the  excellence 
of  this  duty.  To  receive  enjoyment,  also,  is  unquestionably  one 
great  end  for  which  intelligent  creatures  are  made ;  and  an  end 


HKAVEN    A   STATE   OF   ACTIVK    USES.  105 

clearly  worthy  of  theii-  Maker.  But  the  mode  in  Avhich  this  en- 
joyment is  attained,  and  the  means  of  its  accomplishment,  are 
considerations  of  peculiar  moment,  both  to  the  views  Avhich  we 
form  of  the  celestial  happiness,  and  the  nature  of  the  happiness 
itself.  The  state  of  existence  in  heaven  is  not  exhibited  in  the 
Scriptures  as  a  state  of  mere  recipiency,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the 
term,  or  of  mere  quiescent  enjoyment.  Glorified  spirits  are  not, 
as  I  believe,  mere  vessels,  into  which  happiness  is  poured  by  the 
divine  hand  ;  and  do  not  merely  enjoy  what  is  thus  communicated. 
On  the  contrary,  they  are  the  most  active  of  all  beings  in  the 
creation  of  God  ;  the  most  laborious  ;  and  the  most  unremitting 
in  their  exertions.  Out  of  this  activity  their  happiness  in  a  great 
measure  springs."* 

We  do  not  go  as  far  as  the  above,  and  affirm  that  men  in  the 
other  world  are  unremitting  in  their  exertions  (except  unremitting 
in  their  desire  to  do  good),  and  never  cease  from  them ;  this,  we 
are  informed,  is  not  the  case,  but  that  the  happy  spirit  performs 
the  duties  of  his  office  just  sufficiently,  and  no  more  than  is 
necessary,  to  render  him  capable  of  other  and  more  vaiied  enjoy- 
ments. 

The  offices  in  which  angels  or  the  spirits  of  just  men  are  en- 
gaged, are  such,  it  is  said,  that  only  a  few  of  them  can  be  de- 
scribed. One  of  the  most  general  is  that  of  being  guardian 
spirits  to  those  who  exist  upon  this  earth.  It  is  the  office  of  those 
who  in  this  world  bore  the  loved  name  of  woman,  and  who  are 
now  as  angels,  to  hover  near  to  those  of  their  own  sex,  and  whis- 
per those  sentiments — that  advice — which  can  only  be  given  by 
those  who  resemble  themselves.  It  is  also  the  duty  of  such  to 
have  charge,  and  educate,  and  instruct,  those  who  die  in  infancy : 
those  of  whom  the  Saviour  says,  "  Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  We  are  informed  that  all  little  children,  of  whatever 
nation,  sect,  or  religion,  are  invariably  at  death  received  into  heaven, 
and  become  in  time  as  angels.  From  reason  alone,  if  the  fact 
were  not  plainly  evinced  in  the  Scriptures,  it  might  ever  have  been 
seen  that  this  was  the  case.  Yet  the  time  has  been,  even  in  this 
country,  when  it  was  considered  doubtful  whether  all  such  could 
be  saved.  Truly  we  may  be  thankful  that  those  days  of  super- 
stition and  bigotry  have  gone,  never  to  return. 

*  Dwight'ri  Theology,  vol.  v.,  Ser.  clxxi.,  p.  535. 


106  THE  spmrruAL  world. 

In  respect  to  the  origin  of  the  lower  or  infernal  sphere,  we  are 
informed  that  at  first  it  did  not  exist,  and  was  formed  progres- 
sively. When  at  death  evil-disposed  persons  increased  in  the 
hidden  world,  it  was  found  necessary  to  separate  them  from  the 
o-ood,  and  compel  them  to  exist  in  societies  by  themselves  ;  and  the 
abode  of  these  fallen  spirits  was,  in  the  language  of  the  Scriptures, 
denominated  Hell.  Evil  spirits  were  separated  from  the  good, 
for  the  same  reasons  which  cause  us  to  confine  in  this  world  the 
murderer,  the  thief,  and  villain.  If  we  had  no  penitentiaries,  and 
did  not  imprison  them,  and  allowed  every  species  of  crime  to 
pass  unheeded,  the  usual  consequences  would  ensue — bands  of 
freebooters  would  assemble,  and  those  who  now  rest  quietly  under 
the  protection  of  law  and  order,  would  be  obliged  to  hold  them- 
selves in  readiness  to  surrender  at  any  time  their  persons  and 
property  to  the  will  and  wish  of  the  lawless  plunderer.  Now,  in 
the  hidden  world,  there  is  the  same  stern  necessity  that  law  and 
order  should  prevail,  as  here ;  for  we  are  informed,  and  which  is 
agreeable  with  reason,  that  every  man,  when  he  departs  to  the 
eternal  regions,  carries  with  him  the  same  thoughts,  the  same 
mind,  which  he  had  in  this  life.  If  he  has  been  a  rogue  and  vil- 
lain he  wishes  to  be  so  still,  and  as  this  is  opposite  to  the  life  of 
heaven,  it  is  evident  that  heaven  cannot  be  his  abode ;  hence,  he 
is  separated  from  the  good,  and  confined  with  those  who  resemble 
himself,  or  the  evil. 

The  great  law  respecting  freedom  holds  good  in  the  other 
world,  and  there,  as  here,  a  man  as  much  as  possible  is  permitted 
to  partake  of  the  life  he  loves,  or  that  which  gave  him  pleasui-e 
in  this  world,  and  this  even  though  it  be  evil.  As  it  is  impossible 
for  evil  to  exist  in  heaven,  hence  thei-e  remains  for  the  exercise  of 
his  faculties  but  two  regions — that  of  his  particular  abode,  and 
this  Avorld,  where  there  is  to  be  found  a  mixture  of  good  and  evil. 
In  these  places  or  states,  by  God's  mercy,  evil  spirits  are  per- 
mitted to  seek  their  life  and  enjoyment.  The  case  is  thus  : 
A  man  who,  when  living  on  this  eartl),  had  become  infatuated 
with  intoxicating  drinks,  and  who  took  greater  pleasure  in  the 
use  of  them  than  any  thing  else,  is  permitted,  in  an  extraor- 
dinar}'  manner,  from  certain  causes,  to  leave  his  dread  abode 
and  come  to  this  earth,  and  join  himself  to  the  person  who  is  in 
the  like  love  with  himself,  or  who  is  fond  of  the  intoxicating  bowl. 


NATURK   OF    LOVE.  107 

In  this  case,  in  an  astonishing  manner,  the  evil  spirit  and  the 
man  become  two  in  one,  and  seek  and  enjoy  their  liappiness  to- 
gether.* If  possible,  like  the  old  man  mentioned  in  the  Arabian 
Tales,  the  demon  is  unremitting  in  his  death-like  grasp,  and  re- 
mains until  his  victim's  life  and  strength  are  gone.  Ever  by 
reasoning  the  most  artful  and  insidious,  he  endeavors  to  silence 
the  subject's  fears,  and  entice  him  to  continue  the  fatal  career. 
On  the  other  hand,  his  guardian  angel,  or  the  spirit  of  a  good 
man,  wliispers  in  his  ear,  and  entreats  and  implores,  through  his 
conscience,  that  he  will  be  a  man,  and  cease  that  life  which  will 
end  in  his  total,  irrecoverable  ruin.  The  pilgrim,  thus  placed  be- 
tween the  good  and  the  evil,  listens,  and,  exercising  his  freedom, 
partakes  and  adiieres  to  the  counsel  of  the  one  or  the  other,  and 
winds  his  way  to  the  place  of  misery  or  happiness. 

As  with  tlie  spirit  of  intemperance,  so  it  is  with  evil  of  every 
kind.  E\ery  fiend  endeavors  to  prociire  to  himself  a  slave,  and 
thus  satisfy  an  insatiable  appetite.  It  may  be  asked.  Why  are 
these  evil  spirits  permitted  thus  to  roam  at  large  in  this  world, 
and  be  in  a  manner  the  agents  and  cause  of  leading  others  to 
niin  ?  To  this  we  reply.  Because  of  God's  mercy  to  men  on 
this  earth,  and  to  evil  spirits,  and  that  all  may  enjoy  as  much  as 
possible,  and  suft'er  no  unnecessary  pain. 

To  exhibit  this  subject  in  a  proper  maimer,  let  us  examine  the 
nature  of  love.  Love  is  that  which  a  man  delights  in,  and  is  that 
in  which  he  receives  happiness  and  enjoyment.  What  is  the 
drunkard's  greatest  enjoyment  ?  It  is  that  of  partaking  of  intoxi- 
catinff  drinks.  If  we  remove  the  bottle,  his  life,  his  love,  is  ffone  ; 
and  often  by  thus  acting,  we  cause  him  to  suffer  and  be  tortured 
by  the  fiends  Avho  accompanjr  the  delirium  tremens.  If  alco- 
holic drink  is  given  liim,  for  the  time  he  is  happy,  for  he  has  that 
which  he  loves.     It  is  the  same  Avith  the  idler — his  greatest  de- 

*  "  It  lias  been  manifest  to  me,"  says  Swedenborg,  "  by  much  and  long- 
continued  experience,  tliat  spirits  know  no  otherwise  than  that  they  are  the 
same  as  myself,  so  that  they  confessed  this  several  times  with  all  confirma- 
tion, both  separately  and  when  adjoined ;  thus  variously,  and  they  spoke 
accordingly.  I  am  instructed  by  reflections,  and  by  repeated  experience, 
that  spirits  think  themselves  to  be  men  only,  as  to  the  rational  part  or  thought, 
and  also  as  to  the  body  and  its  actions,  even  those  which  are  natural.  They 
thus  imagine  that  it  is  they  who  think,  who  act,  yea,  that  they  are  wholly 
and  solely  man." — Spiritual  Diary,  vol.  i.,  p.  819. 


108  THE   SPIRITUAL   WORLD. 

light  is  indolence.  If  we  cause  him  to  labor,  it  is  the  very  oppo- 
site of  his  wishes,  his  love,  and  is  that  which  he  hates  and  longs 
to  be  released  from.  Take  away  from  the  gambler  his  cards — 
the  spendthrift  his  horses  and  hoimds — the  glutton  his  good  din- 
ners, and  their  very  happiness,  delight,  and  love  are  gone.  It  is 
the  same  with  the  miser  :  take  his  money,  his  accumulated  hoards, 
and  you  take  away  his  god.  It  is  the  same  with  self-love  :  if  we 
endeavor  to  cause  that  individual  who  loves  himself  above  all 
things,  to  love  his  enemy  or  his  neighbor  as  himself,  we  make 
him  unhappy, — we  even  cause  him  to  be  miserable,  for  it  is  not  his 
love,  not  his  prompting,  and  he  Avould  sooner  hate  than  love  the 
man  who  has  slighted  or  injured  him. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  individual  Avho  is  temperate,  loves 
temperance.  The  man  who  is  benevolent,  honest,  and  just,  dis- 
likes to  do  the  contrary,  and  this  because  it  is  against  his  na- 
ture, his  disposition,  will,  or  love.  But  not  so  with  the  rogue,  for 
with  him  stolen  fruit  is  the  sweetest,  and  he  will  defraud  for  a 
pastime.  Place  the  virtuous  female  in  the  company  of  the  aban- 
doned, the  brazen-faced  prostitute,  and  force  her  to  listen  to  the 
language  which  proceeds  from  the  dens  of  infamy,  and  her  sen- 
sibility, her  feelings,  will  be  shocked  in  the  greatest  degree,  and 
this  for  the  reason  that  she  takes  no  pleasm-e,  no  delight  in  such 
society,  and  it  is  revolting  to  her  very  nature. 

Suicide  at  the  present  day  is  of  common  occuiTence,  and  arises 
from  the  fact  that  the  unhappy  individual  perceives  his  happiness 
and  enjoyment  has  fled.  He  finds  that  that  object  has  escaped 
him  upon  the  procuring  of  which  he  had  set  his  veiy  heart :  it 
might  have  been  a  self-delusion,  but  it  was  that  for  which  he  liad 
long  toiled,  and  the  anticipation  of  the  enjoyment  of  which  at 
some  distant  time  had  buoyed  him  up ;  but  now  he  sees  that  it  is 
irrecoverably  gone,  hence  he  despairs.  In  another  case  we  see 
one  who  finds  himself  neglected  and  penniless — has  lost  caste — 
can  no  longer  move  in  the  society  or  adopt  the  style  of  living  to 
which  he  has  been  accustomed — has  no  hope — the  world  has  be- 
come a  burden,  he  can  enjoy  himself  no  longer ;  hence,  he  listens 
to  the  voice  of  the  suicidal  demon,  strikes  the  ftital  blow,  and 
rushes  into  eternity. 

From  what  has  been  adduced,  it  can  be  seen  that  love  of  some 
kind,  and  for  some  object,  be  it  good  or  evil,  is  the  very  life  of 


ALL    SPIRITS    PP:RMrrrED    TO    ENJOY    THEIR    LOVE.         109 

man,  and  without  which  he  is  tnily  wretched  and  miserable. 
The  Deity  is  Love,  therefore  he  wishes  to  give  his  children,  or 
mankind,  that  which  each  individual  loves  the  most ;  hence,  to 
those  who  love  good  he  gives  good,  and  to  those  who  love  evil 
he  gives  evil.  Now  man  having  caused  himself  to  be  born  into 
evil  loves,  it  is  necessary  for  his  existence  that  evil  thoughts,  or 
evil  spirits,  should  be  permitted  to  enter  and  take  up  their  abode. 
If  the  thoughts,  or  the  purity  and  excellence  which  animated  the 
minds  of  those  who  were  first  created,  should  be  instilled  into  the 
mind  of  the  unregenerate  man,  he  would  be  in  torment ;  for  it 
would  be  wholly  opposite  to  every  thing  which  he  loves ;  and 
when  this  is  the  case,  as  has  been  shown,  man  cares  not  to  live, 
and  attempts  annihilation.  The  animal  creation  is  born  in  the 
order  in  which  they  were  created :  it  was  the  same  in  the  begin- 
ning with  man ;  but  now,  being  born  in  disorder,  or  opposite  to 
good,  he  cannot  be  bom  in  order,  or  good,  or  happiness,  until  the 
life  of  his  progenitors  is  changed,  and  brought  into  the  state  of 
excellence  in  which  man  Avas  created.  In  this  case  the  agency  of 
evil  spirits  would  be  needless.  Until  this  is  the  case,  it  can  be 
seen  that  it  is  of  the  last  importance  that  e\il  spirits  should  be 
peiTnitted  to  perform  a  double  use,  and  enable  man  to  enjoy  his 
own  evil  love,  and  at  the  same  time  partake  of  their  own."* 

*  It  is  supposed  by  many  that  the  invisible  world  is  composed  solely  of 
heaven  and  hell.  But  in  regard  to  this  we  are  informed  there  is  an  interme- 
diate space  or  state  to  which  all  go  after  the  death  of  the  body.  We  can  be- 
lieve this  may  be  so,  from  the  fact  that  there  are  few  men  who  are  suffi- 
ciently purified  to  enter  immediately  into  heaven,  and  few  who  are  so  depraved 
as  to  be  worthy  of  its  opposite  ;  and  hence  the  necessity  of  an  intermediate 
space  in  which  all  will  be  prepared  for  their  eternal  abode.  The  belief  in  an 
intermediate  space  was  received  and  taught  by  the  primitive  Christians,  and, 
as  observed  by  the  accomplished  Dr.  T.  Burnet  in  his  work  On  the  State  oftlie 
Dead^  "  The  reformed  divines,  to  avoid  the  terrors  of  purgatory,  have  entirely 
taken  away  the  intermediate  state  ;  as  we  are  too  apt,  in  avoiding  one  folly,  to 
run  into  another.  It  is  very  well  known,"  he  continues,  "that  the  Eoman 
purgatory  is  adapted  to  the  humors  of  the  people  and  the  gains  of  the  priest ; 
but  why  should  these  phantasms  fright  us  away  from  the  search  of  truth, 
and  the  opinions  of  the  ancients  concerning  the  hitherto  unfulfilled  state  of 
misery  and  happiness,  before  the  day  of  judgment  ?" 

"The  universal  Christian  world,"  says  Dr.  .Jung-Stilling,  in  his  Theory  of 
Piieumatology,  "  from  the  very  commencement  believed  generally  in  an  in- 
visible world  of  spirits,  which  was  divided  into  three  different  regions — 
heaven,  or  the  place  of  blessedness;  hell,  or  the  place  of  torment ;  and  then 
a  third  place,  which  the  Bible  calls  hades,  or  the  receptacle  of  the  dead,  in 


no  THE   SPIRITUAL   "WOELD. 

Swedenborg's  views  in  regard  to  the  taking  off  the  mask  in 
whicli  every  one  clothes  his  features,  and  which  rendei-s  it  in  this 
life  impossible  to  discover  his  real  cliaracter — that  which  Paul 
rightly  terms  the  inner  man — are  vividly  exhibited.  We  are  in- 
formed that  upon  entering  the  eternal  scenes  of  the  future,  this 
mask  is  removed,  and  every  one  stands  revealed  in  his  true  light. 
Even,  it  is  said,  so  great  is  the  change,  that  every  man's  thoughts 
are  visible  and  delineated  by  his  features.  If  one  in  this  life  has 
borne  a  reputable  character,  yet  secretly  has  been  a  lover  of  the 
cup,  here  is  shown  what  is  his  true  nature :  all  disguise  is  taken 
away,  and  he  joins  a  society  who  resemble  himself.  It  is,  we 
hardly  need  say,  the  same  with  the  hypocrite,  the  gambler,  the 
adulterer,  the  lover  of  self  and  of  the  world ;  all  seeming  con- 
science and  morality  which,  for  appearance  sake,  was  put  on,  is 
taken  away,  and  they  join  those  Avho  are  of  a  similar  natui'e,  and 
with  whom  they  were  in  reality  associated  when  living. 

That  this  explanation,  or  that  "like  joins  like,"  is  no  visionary's 
tale,  but  the  elucidation  of  an  awful  mystery,  and  what  from  the 
nature  of  things  must  happen,  is  confirmed  by  the  Scriptures. 
Thus  it  is  said  in  Proverbs,  "  Therefore  they  shall  eat  of  the  fruit 
of  their  own  way,  and  be  tilled  with  their  own  de\'ices."  Again 
in  Psalms  :  "  As  he  loved  cursing,  so  shall  it  come  unto  him  ;  as 
he  delighted  not  in  blessing,  so  shall  it  be  far  from  him."  The 
divine  law  concerning  the  subject  is  with  the  utmost  solemnity 
given  to  lis  in  Revelation  xxii.  11,  where  it  is  written — "He  that 

which  those  souls  which  were  not  ripe  for  either  destination,  are  fully  made 
meet  for  that  to  which  they  have  most  adapted  themselves  in  this  life." 
The  author  adds  :  "  The  Christian  system  of  the  spiritual  and  material  world, 
described  as  above,  stood  for  fifteen  hundred  years  unshaken.  Luther  and 
his  confederates  accomplished  a  mighty  revolution  in  religion.  The  Holy 
Scriptures  again  became  the  sole  criterion  of  faith  and  conduct,  and  the 
clergy  of  the  Protestant  Church  renounced  all  claim  to  the  government  of  tlie 
invisible  v/orld ;  they  extinguished  the  flames  of  purgatory,  and  enlarged  the 
bounds  of  hell  by  adding  hades  to  it.  No  middle  state  or  place  of  puritica- 
tion  was  any  longer  believed  in,  but  every  departed  soul  entered  immediately 
on  its  place  of  destination,  either  heaven  or  hell.  Tlicy  carried  this  point  too 
fur:  it  wm  wrong  to  make  u  fuvcfatory  of  liades  ;  but  it  was  also  going  too 

FAR  TO  DO   AWAY  WITH   HADES,  TOGETHER  WITH   PURGATORY." — -(ScO  Thcorv  of 

Pneumatology,  American  edition,  pp.  7-11.)  For  further  particulars,  and  of 
the  opinions  of  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Tertullian,  Chrysostom,  Irenajus, 
and  others,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Noble's  Appeal,  p.  155,  and  in  which  a 
lengthy  explanation  will  be  found. 


STATE    OF   THE    INFERJTALS.  Ill 

ts  unjust,  let  him  be  unjust  still  ;  and  he  which  is  Jilt hj,  let  him 
hejiltkij  still;  and  he  that  is  righteous,  let  him  he  righteous  still:'' 
(See  also  Matthew  xxv.  46.) 

An  eminent  Avriter  in  reference  to  the  subject,  thus  exhibits  it : 
"  God  is  Love.  He  therefore  seeks  to  give  to  his  children  the 
best  thing  he  can  give  or  they  can  receive.  The  best  thing  is  the 
free  love  of  good  ;  for  from  this  flows  his  own  perfect  blessedness 
and  all  inferior  happiness.  It  must  be  free ;  this  is  the  piimal 
and  continual  condition ;  for  take  from  love  the  idea  of  freedom, 
and  you  take  away  its  essence,  its  life.  If  free,  that  is,  if  man  is 
free  to  receive  it,  he  must  be  free  to  reject ;  and,  therefore,  some 
do  receive  it  and  some  reject  it.  They  who  receive  it,  find  it 
the  source  of  all  blessing,  and  are  in  heaven,  and  are  angels. 
They  who  reject  it,  choose  in  its  stead  the  love  of  self  and  of  evil ; 
and  they  are  in  hell,  and  are  devils.  But  are  they  then  without 
the  infinite  mercy  of  God  ?  Not  so  ;  not  so  in  the  least  degree. 
They  are  pennitted  to  live  as  they  love  to  live ;  they  are  allowed 
the  delights  thev  desire,  with  no  other  qualification,  no  other  re- 
straint tlian  is  necessary  to  prevent  their  making  each  other  more 
miserable.  They  Avish  to  do  this,  and  they  are  prevented.  Never 
punished  for  the  sins  they  have  committed  here,  and  never  pun- 
ished for  their  love  of  a  sinful  life,  because  punishment  for  these 
causes  must  now  be  ineffectual,  they  are  punished  only  as  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  prevent  their  molesting  and  tonnenting  each 
other.  They  are  still  the  objects  of  His  constant  care  and  mercy, 
of  a  love  so  vast,  that  no  sin  can  exhaust  it,  so  pure  and  perfect 
that  no  created  mind  can  for  a  single  moment  imagine  it. 

"  The  worm  that  never  dies,  and  the  fire  that  is  never  quenched, 
are  not  literal  torments.  Nor  are  they  conscience  and  remorse, 
and  a  sense  of  their  condition  ;  for  their  conscience  is  suffocated, 
they  cannot  feel  remorse,  and  their  condition  is  precisely  what 
they  love.  The  worm  and  the  fire  are  their  lusts  and  evil  affec- 
tions ;  these  are  not  permitted  to  die  or  be  extinguished,  because 
they  are  their  life,  their  joy,  and  the  only  life  of  which  they  are 
capable.  They  are  in  their  heaven,  in  the  only  heaven  they  can 
appreciate,  or  desire,  or  imagine,  or  enjoy.  The  Lord  condemns 
no  one.  He  who  occupies  a  place  in  hell,  seeks  that  place  be- 
cause it  is  suited  to  his  life,  and  is  permitted  to  occupy  it  by  the 
mercy  which  provides  for  him  all  the  means  of  happiness  he  may 


112  THE    SPIRITUAL    WORLD. 

enjoy,  and  protects  him  as  far  as  possible  from  suffering.  No 
one  goes  to  hell  whom  the  Lord  can  preserve  from  it,  consistently 
■with  the  man's  own  freedom.  No  one  goes  there  who  has  not  so 
resisted  the  divine  influence,  as  to  have  confirmed  himself  in  the 
evils  which  that  influence  resists." 

From  the  above  can  be  seen  that  man  is  the  author  of  his  des- 
tiny, and  alone  responsible.  It  is  also  exhibited  that  "  the  worm 
which  never  dies,  and  the  fire  which  is  never  quenched,"  are  not 
torments  of  the  conscience,  but  thos-  of  another  nature.* 

There  are,  as  before  remarked,  many  persons,  even  clergymen, 
who  nourish  a  secret  and  fond  belief  that  at  some  time  a  general 
restoration  of  all  things  will  take  place.  This  belief  is  more  par- 
ticularly exhibited  and  honestly  held  forth,  by  that  sect  of  Chris- 
tians known  as  Universalists ;  a  denomination  which  contains 
within  itself  persons  the  most  benevolent  and  moral,  yet  at  the 
same  time  those  who  are  far  otherwise.  The  argument  in  regard 
to  a  general  restoration  is,  that  God  is  too  benevolent  and  merci- 


*  Swedcnborg  states  that  evil  spirits  are  in  sucli  a  lost  condition,  that  it  is 
in  vain  to  reason  with  them,  and  are  held  in  subjection  by  those  mcana 
which  in  this  world  are  used  to  subdue  and  control  tlie  lower  creation.  Ac- 
cording to  him,  the  sufferings  which  are  experienced  arise,  among  other 
things,  from  fear  of  deprivation  of  enjopnent  and  corporeal  punishment. 
That  there  is  reason  to  believe  this  is  the  case,  is  evinced  from  what  is  known 
concerning  the  conscience  of  an  abandoned  criminal.  The  statistics  and  ex- 
perience of  those  who  have  examined  the  subject  inform  us,  that  all  such 
have  the  organ  extremely  small,  so  much  so,  that  when  conversed  with  they 
refuse  to  admit  there  is  such  a  faculty,  or  do  not  know  what  is  designated  by 
the  term.  The  fact  that  there  are  thousands  whom  nothing  but  the  law  of 
the  land  compels  to  keep  their  word  and  fulfil  their  engagements,  is  alone 
sufficient  to  prove  that  that  which  is  known  by  the  name  of  conscience  is,  with 
avast  majority,  held  to  be  a  principle  altogether  transcendental — something, 
the  loss  of  which  does  not  trouble  them  or  give  uneasiness.  Conscience  is 
an  inhabitant  of  heaven,  and  not  of  its  opposite:  hence  we  are  informed  that 
no  one  is  lost  who  will  allow  the  heavenly  monitor  to  abide  with  him,  and 
who  heeds  its  warnings.  It  is  the  refusal  to  listen,  tlie  shutting  of  the  door, 
tViat  is  the  cause  of  its  absence;  yet  still,  ever  faithful  to  its  trust,  it  remains, 
and  takes  not  its  final  departure  until  it  is  seen  that  all  is  lost.  .\t  its  flight 
there  springs  in  its  place  a  false  tonsciencc,  which  is  but  a  guilty  dread — a 
transitory  fear,  which  arises  not  from  a  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  and  a  de- 
sire to  act  justly,  but  merely  because  it  is  believed  that  one  may  possibly 
suffer  in  the  other  world  for  actions  done  in  this.  This  is  the  conscience 
which  many  possess,  and  that  which  is  taken  for  the  one  with  which  they 
were  originally  endowed. 


FALSE    VIEWS    OF    THE    DIVINE    MERCY.  113 

ful  to  punish  forever ;  and  hence  the  time  will  come,  though  it. 
may  be  very  distant,  when  all  will  be  saved.  It  is  evident  that 
this  conclusion  is  derived  from  a  false  idea  concerning  the  Divine 
Omnipotence,  and  the  belief  that  God's  anger  is  like  that  of  man's. 
This  belief,  as  we  have  shown,  is  most  erroneous,  and  that  it  is 
vitterly  impossible  for  the  Deity  to  be  angry  or  hate.  Yet  thou- 
sands, in  their  desire  to  gratify  their  inclinations,  rest,  notwithstand- 
ing the  continvied  appeals  of  conscience,  on  this  reasoning  as  their 
foundation  for  future  happiness.  In  this  state  of  the  case,  and  from 
the  fact  that  the  doctrine  concerning  future  rewards  and  punish- 
ments is  by  far  the  most  important  part  of  the  Scriptures,  partic- 
ularly so  in  the  present  age,  when  reason,  not  faith  alone,  is 
inscribed,  our  informant  steps  in,  as  heaven's  messenger,  and 
gives  an  explanation  which  is  not  only  satisfactoiy  to  reason,  but 
at  the  same  time  to  those  feelings  of  mercy  and  benevolence  with 
which  we  have  been  endowed ;  and  it  is  seen  that  all  is  done  that 
Omnipotence  can  effect  for  the  salvation  of  mankind ;  and  yet,  at 
the  same  time,  the  Scripture  doctrine  is  uninjured,  and  the  sad 
and  awful  truth  is  exhibited,  that  the  evd  ever  remain  evil,  and 
there  is  no  hope  that  they  can  by  any  means  be  made  heirs 
of  heaven.*  Their  self-inflicted  pains  may  be  mitigated,  and  for- 
a  time  cease ;  but  they  must  ever  remain  what  in  reality  they 
were  Avhen  they  departed  from  this  life.  As  before  observed,  the 
reason  they  cannot  be  as  angels  is,  because  their  nature  cannot  be 
changed.  They  prefer  and  desire  evil.  The  angel  or  spirit  of  the 
just  man  loves  good :  hence  they  cannot  be  conjoined  or  assimilated. 
There  are  those  who  suppose  that  if  the  Avicked  cannot  be 
saved,  they  will,  like  the  lower  creation,  be  annihilated.  But  this 
view  (now  extensively  received)  is  a  great  fallacy,  and  perversion 
of  the  Scriptures.     If  it  is  for  a  moment  considered,  it  can  be 

*  No  one,  it  is  stated,  is  refused,  in  the  other  life,  if  he  wish  it,  admittance 
into  the  realms  of  happiness,  but  alas  !  if  he  attempt  it,  and  is  unprepared — 
"has  not  the  wedding  garment" — -he  soon  finds  that  heaven  is  no  heaven  to 
him,  but  a  hell  of  fai-  greater  suflfering  than  that  which  he  has  left.  He  finds 
himself  inconceivably  worse  tlian  the  suicide  who  attempts  annihilation  be- 
cause his  pleasures  are  gone.  Like  him,  he  finds  not  a  single  companion 
with  whom  he  can  associate ;  sees  that  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed  which  it  is 
impossible  to  pass  ;  perceives  that  already  the  celestial  atmosphere  is  pene- 
trating like  molten  fire  his  very  existence  ;  hence  he  rushes  from  the  (to  him) 
agonizing  aljode,  and  hastens  to  his  own  place,  and  to  those  who  are  like  and 
resemble  himself. 


114  THE   SPIRITUAL    WOKLD. 

seen  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  life  of  an  animal  and 
that  of  man.  The  one  is  endowed  with  rational  powers,  is  a  free 
agent,  has  a  life  into  which  the  Divine  life  flows,  and  which  can 
be  conjoined  to  it ;  and  what  is  thvis  conjoined  cannot  be  dissipa- 
ted. The  other  is  wholly  irrational — has  a  life  in  Avhich  the 
Di\-ine  life  or  influx  cannot  conjoin  or  connect  itself;  hence  can 
be  dissipated  or  annihilated.  A  beast  when  led  to  slaughter  has 
only  a  perception  that  he  is  to  suffer  some  momentary  danger, 
and  is  totally  unaware  as  the  insect  that  flies  about  him,  or  the 
tree  of  the  forest,  that  he  is  to  experience  annihilation.  It  would 
be  as  impossible  to  make  a  beast  perceive  or  be  conscious  of 
death,  as  it  would  be  to  attempt  to  reason  with  him  concerning 
the  attributes  of  the  Deity  or  the  necessity  of  examining  the 
Scriptures.  But  it  is  far  different  with  man.  Deeply  engraved 
witliin  his  heart,  he  knows  from  an  inner  consciousness  that  there 
is  a  life  after  death,  and  that  the  present  is  the  great  preparation 
for  the  eternal  scenes  of  the  hereafter. 

Another  reason  why  man  cannot  be  annihilated  is,  because  it 
would  be  in  direct  opposition  to  the  great  laws  which  govern  the 
universe,  and  which  it  is  known  must  be  sustained  and  cannot  be 
put  asidef  Thus  we  are  informed  that  God  is  Love.  Xow  it  is 
the  law  or  nature  of  the  Di\"ine  love,  fixed  and  unchangeable,  not 
to  love  itself ;  for  this  would  be  self-love,  or  evil.  Love  consists 
in  willing  what  is  its  own,  or  its  enjoyment,  to  be  another's, 
and  experiencing  that  delight  and  happiness  in  itself.  This  is  to 
love.  This  is  conjunction  ;  and  the  essence  of  all  love  consists  in 
conjunction  or  union.  Now  Love's  own  is  immortality.  To  give 
immortality  is  to  give  eternal  life,  and  this  without  the  power  of 
destroying  it ;  for  if  that  right  were  resen-ed,  immortality  would 
not  be  given.  God  is  Love — is  immortality.  Man  was  created 
after  his  own  likeness  and  imasfe,  hence  was  created  immortal : 
what  is  immortal  cannot  be  destroyed — hence  from  this  primal 
cause,  man,  be  he  good  or  evil,  cannot  be  destroyed  or  annihilated. 

Swedenborg's  assertions  in  regard  to  the  intercourse  between 
the  Natural  and  Spiritual  worlds,  or  of  the  agency  of  good  and 
evil  spirits,  can  be  verified  by  an  appeal  to  the  Scriptures.  It  is 
believed  there  is  no  doctrine  in  the  Bible  more  explicitly  taught 
than  this.     In  reference  to  the  subject,  we  find  in  Luke  ix.  39, 


ETiL  srmrrs.  115 

the  following  :  "  And  lo,  a  spirit  taketh  him  and  teareth  him  that 
he  Ibameth  again,  and  bruising  him,  hardly  departeth  from  hira." 
"And  the  seventy  returned  again  with  joy,  saying.  Lord,  even  the 
devils  are  subject  unto  us  through  thy  name"  (x.  IV).  "When 
the  unclean  spiiit  is  gone  out  of  a  man  he  walketh  through 
diy  places ;  seeking  rest  and  finding  none,  he  saith,  I  will  return 
unto  my  house  whence  I  came  out.  And  when  he  cometh  he 
findeth  it  swept  and  garnished ;  then  goeth  he,  and  taketh  to 
him  seven  other  spirits  more  wicked  than  himself,  and  they  enter 
in  and  dioell  there :  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than 
the  first"  (xi.  24,  26).  "And  when  he  went  forth  to  land  there 
met  him  out  of  the  city  a  certain  man  which  had  devils  long 
time,  and  wore  no  clothes,  neither  abode  in  any  house,  but  in  the 
tombs  ;  and  Jesus  asked  him,  saying,  What  is  thy  name  ?  and 
he  said,  Legion ;  because  manij  deolh  were  entered  into  him" 
(vii.  30).  The  Jews,  in  their  accusation  of  the  Saviour,  said : 
"  Now  we  know  that  thou  hast  a  devil."  The  devil*  (or  devils), 
we  are  informed,  entered  into  Judas  Iscariot  at  the  feast  of  the 
passover.  The  same  is  recorded  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira.  A 
corrupt  and  fallen  Church  is  called  ift  Revelation,  the  Synagogue 

*  It  is  to  be  understood  concerninrj  evil  spirits,  or  the  devil,  that  the  word 
is  to  be  taken  in  a  colleetive  sense  ;  and  that  there  is  no  one  devil,  but  myri- 
ads —that  literally  his  name  is  "  Legion."  All  wicked  spirits  in  the  other 
lift  compose  what  is  called  the  Devil,  or  Satan. 

Swedenborg  teaches  that  all  angels  were  born  on  this  or  some  other  earth. 
It  is  stated  as  a  fallacy  to  suppose  there  were  ever  such  beings  as  fallen  an- 
gels. We  arc  led  to  believe  that  Swedenborg's  explanation  is  a  correct  one, 
from  the  reason  that  it  appears  contradictory  to  suppose  that  angels  can 
fall ;  and  it  is  evinced  that  if  such  is  the  fact,  then  is  shown  that  a  great 
Scripture  doctrine  is  invalidated,  and  it  is  not  true  that  a  Christian's  destiny  ' 
is  irrecoverably  determined  in  this  life.  This  must  be  admitted,  as  it  is  evi- 
dent that  if  it  be  true  that  angels  can  and  did  fall  in  former  periods,  then 
there  is  danger  that  the  same  destiny  may  overtake  tiie  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect,  and  of  whom  it  is  said  tlicy  never  shall  fall  away  or  their  hap- 
piness cease.  The  belief  concerning  fallen  angels  appears  to  be  derived 
chiefly  from  a  text  in  Jude,  in  whicli  allusion  is  made  to  flillen  spirits.  Ke- 
cent  investigations  show  that  Judo  procured  his  information  from  tlic  Apoc- 
ryphal Book  of  Enoch,  a  Jewish  fable,  and  which  very  nearly  exhibits  the 
subject  as  explained  by  liim.  It  is  well  known  that  in  respect  to  many  iin 
portiint  fiicts  the  primitive  Christians  were  never  informed,  and  Jude  in 
particular,  in  regard  to  this  subject,  appears  to  have  fallen  into  a  great  error. 
For  a  full  examination  of  the  subject  and  of  the  lost  Book  of  Enoch,  the  read 
er  is  referred  to  Noble's  Appeal,  p.  302,  and  in  which  a  lengthy  explana 
tion  is  given. 


116  THE   SPIRITUAL   WORLD. 

of  Satan— Satan's  seat ;  and  its  members  not  Jews,  but  those 
possessed  by  spirits  of  evil.  For  a  further  examination  of  the 
subject,  and  of  the  connection  which  evil  spirits  have  with  this 
world,  see  Matt.  iv.  10,  24 ;  vii.  28,  30 ;  ix.  33  ;  x.  1,  8 ;  xiL  24. 
Mark  i.  24,  27 ;  iii.  22,  26  ;  v.  4,  15,  16  ;  \-i.  13  ;  ix.  18.  John 
vii.  20  ;  viii.  52.  Acts  v.  16  ;  viii.  7  ;  xix.  15.  Eph.  ii.  1  ;  v.  11 ; 
vi.  12,  16.  Heb.  ii.  14.  Rev.  ii.  9,  13  ;  iii.  9  ;  xii.  7,  9,  13, 15  ; 
XX.  2,  3. 

Concerning  the  agency  of  guardian  spirits  or  angels,  we  find 
the  following  m  Psalm  xxxiv.  7 :  "  The  angel  of  the  Lord  en- 
campeth  about  them ;"  and  in  the  same  Book :  "  For  he  shall 
give  his  angels  charge  over  thee  to  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways" 
(xc.  11).  St.  Paul  says,  alluding  to  angels,  "Are  they  not  all 
ministering  spirits  sent  forth  to  minister  to  them  who  shall  be 
hehs  of  salvation  ?"  In  this  passage  we  are  expressly  taught, 
that  assisting  mankind  is  a  standing  employment  or  office  of  an- 
gels. In  Acts  xii.  15,  it  is  said,  speaking  of  Peter's  guardian 
spirit,  "It  is  his  angel."  "  In  the  vision  of  Jacob's  Ladder  angels 
are  represented  as  continually  descending  and  ascending.  Angels 
dehvered  Lot  from  Sodom,  Jacob  from  Esau,  Daniel  from  the 
lions,  his  three  companions  from  the  furnace,  Peter  from  Herod, 
and  the  nation  of  the  Israelites  successively  from  the  Egyptians, 
Canaanites,  and  Assyiians.  Thus  they  conducted  Lot,  Abraham, 
and  the  Israelites,  in  a  season  of  great  difficulty  and  danger,  to 
places  and  circumstances  of  safety  and  peace  ;  they  conducted 
Gideon  to  the  destruction  of  the  Midianites  ;  Joseph  and  Mary  to 
Egypt ;  Philip  to  the  Eunuch,  and  Comelius  to  Peter,  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  Gospel.  Thus  they  comforted  Jacob  at  the 
approach  of  Esau ;  Daniel  in  his  peculiar  sorrows  and  dangers ; 
Zachariah  in  the  sufferings  of  his  nation  ;  Joseph  and  Mary  in  their 
perplexities ;  Christ  in  his  agony ;  the  Apostles  and  their  com- 
panions after  his  resurrection ;  Paul  immediately  before  his  ship- 
wreck, and  the  Church  universally,  by  the  testimony  and  instruc- 
tion given  in  the  Revelation  of  St.  John." 

An  eminent  author  (G.  Moore),  in  a  work  recently  issued  from 
the  press  of  the  Messi's.  Harper,  thus  remarks  concerning  the 
agency  of  spirits :  "  The  body  is  only  a  convenient  form  which 
the  spirit  uses ;  and  we  have  the  highest  authority  for  believing 


ANGELIC    COMMUXICAIIONS.  117 

that  many  spirits  may  occupy  and  employ  the  same  body.  Nor 
can  we  discover  any  thing  in  nature  that  renders  it  difficult  to 
credit  this  fact.  Some  persons  with  most  unphilosophical  auda- 
city have,  however,  denied  its  possibility ;  but  at  least  it  be- 
hooves them  first  to  prove  that  they  understand  the  mode  of 
spiritual  existence  and  operation,  before  they  contradict  the  lit- 
eral force  of  the  New  Testament,  from  which  we  learn  that  if  we 
use  not  our  bodies  according  to  divine  law,  they  will  be  employed 
by  other  spirits  to  dishonor  and  destruction.  But  in  no  circum- 
stances in  which  the  moral  integrity  of  the  soul  can  be  tried,  does 
it  necessarily  succumb  to  the  seductions  of  the  body,  nor,  with 
right  knowledge  and  reliance,  to  the  pereuasion  of  perverse 
spirits."* 

President  Dwight,  who  gave  full  credence  to  the  agency  of 
spirits,  thus  replies  to  some  of  the  objections  which  have  been 
brought  against  such  belief.  He  informs  us,  that  "  angels  (or 
spirits)  should  communicate  thoughts  either  good  or  evil  to  man- 
kind, is  originally  no  more  improbable  than  that  we  should  com- 
municate them  to  each  other.  We  do  this  daily  and  hourly  in 
many  ways  which  are  familiar  to  us  by  experience,  but  which 
were  originally  unimaginable  by  ourselves,  and  probably  by  any 
other  finite  beings.  We  show  our  thoughts  to  each  other  by 
words,  tones,  gestures,  silence,  hieroglyphics,  pictures,  letters,  and 
many  other  things.  All  these,  antecedent  to  our  experience  of 
them,  were  hidden  in  absolute  darkness  from  our  conception.  If 
all  mankind  had  been  born  dumb,  no  man  would  have  entertained 
a  single  thought  concerning  the  communication  of  ideas  by  sj^eech. 
The  conveyance  of  thought  by  looks,  also,  if  never  experienced 
by  us,  would  have  been  necessarily  deemed  mysterious  and  im- 
possible. Yet  very  many  thoughts  are  thus  conveyed  by  every 
person  living,  and  with  very  great  force,  and  frequently  with  en- 
tire precision.  Nay,  the  countenance  often  discloses  the  whole 
character  at  once. 

"  That  angels  communicate  their  thoughts  to  each  other,  we 
know,  because  the  Scriptures  have  declared  the  fact ;  that  they 
may  communicate  them  to  tis,  we  have  no  solid  reason  to  doubt. 
Of  the  mode  of  communication,  in  either  case,  we  know  nothing ; 

*  The  Soul  and  the  Body :  George  Moore,  M.D.,  1847,  p.  259. 


118  THE    SriKITUAL    WORLD. 

and  are  unable  to  conjecture  any  thing  but  what  is  idle  and  use- 
less. But  that  they  may  convey  thoughts  into  our  minds,  as 
well  as  understand  those  which  arise  in  them,  contravenes  no 
analogy  and  no  evidence. 

"  In  the  Scriptures  we  are  informed  abundantly,  that  God  by 
his  Holy  Spirit  communicates  thoughts  to  mankind.  But  it  is 
certain  that  we  have  no  consciousness  of  his  presence  and  agency 
in  communicating  them.  Of  the  thoughts  themselves  we  are  in- 
deed conscious,  but  not  of  the  source  whence  they  are  derived. 
The  same  doctrine,  for  aught  that  appears,  is  equally  apphcable 
to  our  reception  of  thoughts  from  angels."''' 

"The  opinion,"  says  an  author,f  "  that  men  are  acted  upon  and 
influenced  by  spiritual  beings,  whether  called  angels,  spirits,  de- 
mons, or  devils,  is  coeval  with  the  earliest  records  of  our  race, 
and  coextensive  with  all  human  societ}-.  There  never  was  a  pe- 
riod when  it  did  not  prevail,  nor  a  people  that  did  not  entertain  it. 
The  theological  systems  of  every  nation  on  the  globe  with  which 
we  have  any  acquaintance  give  the  doctrine  a  prominent  place. 
The  Jewish,  Egyptian,  Indian,  Persian,  Chaldean,  Grecian,  and  Ro- 
man records  attest  the  fact.  The  ancient  philosophers,  men  who 
not  only  impressed  themselves  on  the  age  in  which  they  lived, 
but  the  traces  of  whose  deep  wisdom  are  not  yet  entirely  effaced, 
universally  admitted  and  inculcated  the  doctrine ;  not  exceptino- 
even  the  founders  of  what  are  called  the  atheistical  sects.  Tha- 
les,  the  earliest  amongst  the  Grecian  philosophers  according  to 
Cicero,  Plutarch,  Stoboeus,  and  the  Christian  philosopher  Athe- 
nagoras,  taught  that  the  souls  of  men  after  death  were  spiritual 
substances,  distinguished  into  good  and  evil,  and  that  thej-  acted 
directly  and  powerfully  on  men  during  then-  life  in  this  world. 
The  same  doctrine  was  taught  by  the  Egyptian  priests  before  the 
time  of  Thales,  as  we  are  told  by  Jamblicus  and  others  ;  and  such 
was  the  theory  of  Pythagoras  and  Plato,  as  we  learn  from  Plu- 
tarch, Cicero,  Psellus,  and  Fabricius.  Zeno  and  his  followers 
maintained  the  same  doctrine  Avith  a  clearness  and  force  hardly 
credible  when  we  consider  the  age  in  which  thev  hved. 

"  The  Epicureans  not  only  taught  the  existence  and  influence 
of  departed  spirits  on  men,  but,  as  it  appears  from  the  history  of 
their  philosophy,  recorded  by  Laertius,  affirmed  that  God  gov- 

*  Dwight's  Theology,  Vol.  I.  p.  837.  +  R.  K.  Cralle,  of  \'irginia. 


OKIENTAL    mEAS    ON    THIS    SUBJECT.  119 

erned  the  world  by  means  of  genii  or  demons,  as  the  souls  of  the 
departed  were  usually  called.  The  Chaldean  philosophy  gives 
the  doctrine  a  very  prominent  place ;  and  it  would,  perhaps,  be 
Avell  for  some  who  call  themselves  'Evangelical  Clu-iistkins,"  and 
who  ridicule  all  things  not  obvious  to  the  senses,  to  read  the  ac- 
count given  by  Psellus  of  the  doctrines  of  the  school,  as  derived 
from  a  Christian  convert,  Marcus  of  Mesopotamia,  who  had  been 
a  disciple,  and  as  such,  well  acquainted  with  its  tenets.  Speak- 
ing of  the  views  entertained  in  regard  to  unclean  spirits,  he  says : 
'  It  was  taught  that  they  circumvent  men  by  art  and  subtlety, 
and  deceive  the  minds  of  men,  and  draw  them  to  absurd  and  un- 
lawful passion.  These  things  they  effect,  not  as  having  absolute 
dominion  over  us  and  carrying  us  as  their  slaves,  whithersoever 
they  will,  but  by  suggestion ;  for,  applying  themselves  to  the 
spirit  ivithiii  us,  tliey  themselves  being  spirits  also,  they  instil  af- 
fections and  pleasures,  not  by  audible  voice,  but  by  whispering, 
insinuating  discourse.  Nor  is  it  impossible  that  they  should 
speak  without  voice,  if  Ave  consider  that  he  who  speaks,  being 
afar  off,  is  forced  to  use  a  greater  sound,  but  being  near,  speaks 
softly  in  the  ear  of  the  hearer ;  and  if  he  could  get  into  the  spirit 
of  the  soul,  he  would  not  need  any  sound,  but  what  discourse 
soever  he  pleaseth  would,  by  a  way  w^ilhout  sound,  arrive  there 
where  it  is  to  be  received :  w^hich,  they  say,  is  likewise  in  souls 
when  they  are  out  of  the  body ;  for  they  discourse  with  one  an- 
other without  voice.  After  this  manner  the  demons  converse 
with  us  privily,  so  that  we  are  not  sensible  wliich  way  the  war 
comes  upon  us.  They  distort  the  possessed  person  and  speak  by 
him,  making  use  of  the  spirit  of  the  patient,  as  if-it  were  their 
own  organ.'  The  latter  part  of  this  seems  to  contain  a  very  ac- 
curate description  of  the  cnerr/umcni  of  the  New  Testament. 
The  same  views  distinguished  the  doctrines  of  the  Persian  Zoro- 
aster, and  those  of  the  Sabeans ;  and  we  discover  a  similar  phi- 
losophv  in  the  Somnium  Scipionis,  the  account  of  the  '  evil  genius' 
of  Brutus,  and  the  '  demon   of  Socrates." 

We  have  ofone  thus  far  in  endeavoring  to  exhibit  the  fact  that 
spirits  act  as  our  informant  represents.  The  authority  which  has 
been  adduced  is,  we  think,  sufficient  to  satisfy  those  who  are  dis- 
posed to  believe,  and  who  have  not  closed  their  minds  against 
the  truths  of  the  Scriptures.     As  an  objection,  it  has  been  urged 


120  THE   SPIRITUAL   WOKLD. 

that  evil  spirits  are  not  cognizable  to  the  senses.  But  this  we 
will  not  admit ;  for  they,  or  those  who  resemble  them,  can  be 
found  on  eveiy  side.  Let  us  witness  the  spectacle  of  two  liuman 
beings  engaged  in  mortal  combat.  In  this  case,  we  see,  by  the 
panting  breath,  the  infuriated  eye,  the  enraged  and  distorted  fea- 
tures, that  they  are  not  rational  beings,  but  are,  for  the  time,  two 
demons.  That  this  is  so  is  shown  from  the  universal  language  of 
mankind ;  thus  how  often  is  it  said  of  a  person  when  causing 
great  disturbance  and  mischief,  that  such  a  one  "  has  the  de^il  in 
him — that  he  is  not  himself."  Take  such  an  individual  when  the 
passion  fiend  has  left,  and  what  a  different  person !  A  stranger 
would  not  know  him.  Then  he  was  seen  filled  with  deviltry  and 
rage — now  is  a  calm,  rational,  and  conscience-smitten  being, 
vexed  with  himself,  and  that  lie  had  allowed  the  e\nl  to  overcome 
him. 

In  connection  with  this  subject  it  is  to  be  understood,  that 
neither  spirits  good  nor  evil  can  in  any  manner  touch  or  destroy 
the  equilibrium  of  man's  freedom.  They  can  present  good  and 
evil  suggestions,  but  it  remains  Avith  the  man  alone  to  decide  of 
which  he  will  partake.  How,  or  in  what  precise  manner  spirits 
or  thoughts  are  permitted  to  proceed  from  the  spii-itual  world 
and  act,  Ave  know  not ;  and  indeed  if  the  knoAvledge  Avere  to 
be  obtained,  it  is  to  be  doubted  Avhether  it  Avould  be  serviceable 
to  mankind  ;  hence  the  mystery  is  not  fully  explained,  and  is 
known  only  to  Him  Avho  says,  "  Thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  and 
no  farther." 


SECTION  IX. 


REGENERATION  AND  FREE  AGENCY. 

In  a  preceding  section  has  been  exhibited  the  cause  of  the 
ruin  of  man,  and  of  his  fall  from  the  happy  state  in  which  he 
was  created;  and  we  shall  now  consider  the  remedy  which 
the  Deity,  in  his  providence,  has  given  to  restore  his  children  to 
the  order  m  which  they  were  created,  and  to  the  days  of  ancient 
happiness.  This  is  done  by  a  reformation,  or  regeneration,  a 
change  which  enables  the  mind  to  reign  triumphant,  and  con- 
quer and  subdue  the  world  within.  Now  it  is  known  that  this 
is  the  case,  and  that  there  are  those  on  every  side  who,  at  some 
time  of  their  lives,  by  reading  the  Scriptures  and  reflecting  con- 
cerning the  invisible  God,  have,  by  some  mysterious  means,  be- 
come, and  who  cAnnce  by  their  acts  that  they  are  different  beings- 
individuals  who  now  have  a  full  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  and  future  happmess,  and  who  consider  the  Deity  as  a  being 
whom  they  can  never  adequately  love  and  praise  for  the  benefits 
he  has  conferred  upon  them. 

As  man's  freedom  is  involved  in  this  subject,  and  as  it  is  sup- 
posed by  many  that  the  Deity  by  his  omnipotence  forces  some  to 
yield  obedience  to  his  will,  and  thus  become  heirs  of  heaven,  leav- 
ing the  rest  to  perish  in  their  sins ;  we  shall  endeavor  to  show 
that  this  is  the  greatest  of  fallacies,  and  that  God  wills  all  to  be 
saved,  and  that  in  those  who  are  recovered  or  regenerated,  he 
never  destroys  the  equilibrium  of  their  freedom. 

For  the  purpose  of  illustratii^  this  subject,  let  us  take  the  case 
of  a  skeptic  who  has  little  or  no  belief  in  an  imnsible  God,  or  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.     It  will  be  admitted  that  sucli  a  person 


122  REGENERATI0J7    A>'D   FKEE    AGEXCY. 

considers  himself,  and  fully  believes  that  he  is  free,  the  sole  mas- 
ter of  his  thoughts  and  actions.  This  is  shown  from  the  fact  that 
Avhen  he  performs  a  good  deed  or  benevolent  action,  he  ascribes 
tlie  honor  of  it  to  himself,  and  reflects  as  little  concerning  the  Deity 
as  if  there  were  none.  It  is  the  same  when  he  resents  and  de- 
mands satisfaction  of  his  opponent,  or  does  Avhat  might  be  called 
an  evil  action  ;  for  in  this  case  he  attributes  it  to  himself,  and  that 
he  is  the  sole  author  of  the  deed. 

Should  a  believer  in  the  truths  of  Christianity  endeavor  to  con- 
vince such  a  person  that  the  Deity  was  the  author  of  his  good 
actions,  and  that  Satan  or  evil  spirits  were  the  cause  of  his  evil 
ones,  it  would  be  found  that  he  had  attempted  an  impossibility ; 
and  it  might  be  asked  of  him,  as  was  done  by  the  ancient  skeptic, 
that  he  should  produce  his  invisible  Deity  and  evil  sphits,  that 
he  might  see  them  before  he  believed  such  beings  to  exist,  much 
more  that  they  in  any  way  influenced  him.  Here  the  skeptic  may 
be  seen  in  a  state  of  delusion  and  blindness,  which  is  unknown  to 
himself.  We  Avill  suppose  this  individual  to  be  an  intemperate 
person,  that  his  conscience  for  years  has  smote  him,  that  he  has 
often  reflected  on  the  subject — that  he  perceives  that  if  he  does 
not  reform,  his  family,  property,  reputation,  and  hfe  will  be  sacri- 
ficed. He  attempts  the  reformation,  but  finds  his  love  for  the  in- 
toxicating draught  so  strong,  that  he  cannot  resist  its  influence. 
He  is  surprised  to  find  that  intellect,  that  mind,  which  he  believes 
and  knows  to  be  superior  to  those  around  him,  in  this  case  fail 
him.  He  again  and  again  endeavors  to  obtain  the  firmness  and 
resolution  necessary  to  enable  him  to  resist  the  temptation.  This 
is  continued,  until  at  last  he  abandons  what  he  deems  the  folly  of 
secret  vows,  and  pledges  made  but  to  be  -violated.  Time  speeds ; 
step  by  step  he  proceeds  on  his  fatal  career,  until  it  is  seen  that 
without  a  reformation,  immediate  ruin  and  beororarv  threaten 
In  this  crisis,  the  thought  occurs  that  he  will  peruse  the  sacred 
volume :  he  deeply  and  repeatedly  reflects  on  the  subject ;  and 
finally  believes  that,  altogether  unworthy  as  he  is,  he  will  ask  and 
entreat  the  help  of  that  in\isible  Being  whom  he  is  informed  is 
his  creator.  He  does  it — assistance  is  granted — he  experiences 
and  is  aware  that  a  new  influence  is  brought  to  bear,  a  load  is 
taken  from  his  heart,  and  he  has  become  a  new  man.  Now  the 
work  of  reformation  has  truly  commenced ;  and  the  skeptic  finds 


FREEDOM    man's    ESSENTIAL    PREROGATIVE.  123 

that  he  can  conquer  himself,  and  subdue  the  evil  powers  by 
which  he  was  surrounded,  and  knows  that  it  was  solely  by  the 
help  of  God  that  he  was  enabled  to  do  so,  and  sees  clearly  the 
infatuation  and  self-delusion  in  which  he  was,  in  supposing  that 
he  could  resist  evil  thoughts  without  his  heavenly  Father's  as- 
sistance. 

In  this  case  it  is  shown  that  two  circumstances  have  occurred. 
The  skeptic  has  been  saved  by  the  mercy  and  goodness  of  the- 
Deity,  and  Avithout  doing  any  thing  for  himself ;  for  all  his  good 
thoughts  w^ere  from  God,  yet  at  the  same  time  his  free  agency 
or  mental  freedom  has  not  been  destroyed :  and  the  man,  by  an 
act  of  his  own  free  will,  and  as  appeared  to  him  at  the  time, 
without  any  assistance,  began  the  process  of  regeneration.  Tlie 
exercise  of  his  freedom  consisted  in  commencing  the  work  of 
reformation  of  his  own  free  will,  for  he  did  not  at  that  time  know 
that  he  Avas  led  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  but  fully  believed  that 
he  did  it  of  himself ;  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  when  one 
thinks  and  fully  believes  that  all  his  thoughts  are  of  himself,  to 
him  they  are  so,  and  he  is  in  perfect  freedom  and  controlled  by 
no  one.^- 

From  this  explanation  it  can  be  seen  that  the  great  Being, 
gently  and  Avithout  violating  any  freedom,  by  innumerable  per- 
suasive means  had  brought  about  this  happy  change.  These  in- 
fluences had  been  exerted  from  the  skeptic's  earliest  childhood, 
for  no  father  ever  Avatched  Avith  as  much  care  over  a  beloved 
child's  interests,  as  did  the  Deity,  through  guardian  angels,  Avatch 
this  man's  thoughts  and  conduct.  The  same,  we  are  informed,  is 
and  ever  has  been  done  to  every  one,  of  AA-hatCA-er  country,  nation,  or 
religion  ;  and  every  effort  is  made,  in  a  manner  suitable  to  the  in- 
dividual's belief,  to  produce  a  reformation.  But  if  the  man  will 
refuse  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  conscience  and  reason,  and  prefers 
to  walk  his  OAvn  Avay,  he  is  alloAved  to  do  so,  for  free  he  was 
created,  and  free  he  must  remain,  be  the  result  good  or  evil. 

*  Tlie  .above  explanation  neither  robs  the  Deity  of  his  peculiar  glory  in 
the  work  of  reformation,  nor  does  it  at  the  same  time  destroy  man's  free- 
dom ;  for  if  the  skeptic  had  not  originated  that  volition  of  will,  and  firmly 
acted  in  pursuance  of  his  determination,  he  would  never  have  been  saved, 
and  hence  what  he  did  was  the  cause«of  his  salvation.  In  examining  this 
subject  it  is  but  necelsary  to  see  the  relationship  or  connection  which  ono 
ftfiirm-ition  beajs  to  another,  and  all  seeming:  contradiction  is  avoided. 


124  KEGENEEATION    AKD    FREE    AGENCY. 

We  find,  in  examining  this  subject,  a  truth  of  the  last  import- 
ance developed,  namely,  that  man's  skepticism  or  disbelief  in  ref- 
erence to  religious  subjects  is  itself  an  evidence  of  his  responsi- 
bility, and  proving  conclusively  that  he  is  constituted  a  perfectly 
free  agent ;  it  being  the  same  as  if  he  made  open  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  accoimtability,  for  he  does  this  by  his  actions,  that 
speak  louder  than  words ;  and  when  he  does  this,  then  by  a  uni- 
versally admitted  law,  he  cannot  be  considered  otherwise  than 
accountable  for  his  conduct. 

There  is  nothing  more  astonishing  to  the  skeptic,  after  the 
speck  or  the  film  is  removed  from  the  mental  eye,  and  he  has 
recovered  his  sight,  than  the  subject  of  the  freedom  of  the  will. 
Formerly  he  beheved,  and  fully,  that  all  that  he  did  was  of  him- 
self, that  he  origmated  his  thoughts ;  but  now  he  sees  that  all  the 
good  which  he  does  is  from  God,  and  the  evil  from  Satan.  Here 
he  is  astonished,  for  at  the  first  glance  it  appears  to  him  as  if  his 
freedom  was  gone,  and  that  he  had  become  a  passive  machine, 
acted  upon  by  God  and  Satan.  Upon  second  thought  he  finds, 
incredible  as  it  appears,  that  nevertheless  it  is  so,  and  that  not- 
withstanding the  difficulty,  he  is  the  same  free  agent ;  and  that  it 
is  not  impossible  by  the  acts  of  his  will  even  now  to  fall  and  take 
his  place  among  the  lo.st.  Like  those  of  the  ancient  race,  when 
he  ceases  to  reflect,  every  thought  and  action  appears  to  originate 
solely  from  his  own  intellect ;  yet  a  moment's  reflection  convinces 
him  that  it  is  not  so,  but  that  God  is  the  originator  of  the  one, 
and  evil  or  Satan  of  the  other.  How  it  is,  and  the  manner  of 
this,  he  knows  not ;  sufficient  that  he  sees  and  fully  believes  that 
it  is  so  ;  and  above  all,  that  there  is  no  injustice  in  the  matter, 
that  there  is  a  necessity  for  it,  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  the 
strongest  intellect  to  conceive  that  this,  the  greatest  of  all  ques- 
tions, can  be  answered  otherwise.  On  this  momentous  subject, 
the  noblest  object  of  human  investigation,  he  finds  scope  for  his 
faith,  and  sees  how  infinite,  hoAv  past  conception  of  man  or  angel, 
is  the  Di\ine  wisdom ;  and  perceives  that  the  human  intellect  can 
approach  the  glorious  and  radiant^ircle  of  the  Divinity,  ever  draw 
near,  yet  never  to  eternity  penetrate  its  mighty  arcanum."* 

*  Swedenborg,  in  reference  to  this'  subject,  remarl^,  that  "  to  explore  the 
mysteries  of  faith  by  scientifics,  is  as  impossible  as  for  a  camel  to  go  througli 
the  eye  of  a  needle  ;  and  as  impossible  as  for  a  rib  to  direct  the  most  pure 


-EVIL   THOUGHTS    REPUDIATED.-  125 

Though  the  subject  of  the  freedom  of  the  will  is  the  greatest 
of  mysteries,  yet  there  is  no  truth  in  the  Scriptures  -which  is 
oftener  taught  and  known  by  the  Christian.  If  such  a  one  does 
a  benevolent  action,  he  will  instruct  the  object  of  his  charity  not 
to  praise  or  return  thanks  to  him  for  the  gift,  but  to  God  who 
was  the  originator  of  the  thought  which  prompted  the  action, 
and  who  at  that  time  saw  fit  in  his  providence  to  send  necessary 
relief — and  who  hence  deserves  the  praise.  In  this  deed  of  benev- 
olence there  is  no  happiness  lost  or  taken  away  from  the  donor 
of  the  gift,  and  he  experiences  asmuchgmtification  in  doing  what 
he  has  done,  as  if  he  himself  originated  the  thought,  and  there 
was  no  Deity :  mdeed,  as  before  observed,  he  does  not  know  ex- 
cept by  reflection,  but  that  he  has  done  it  of  and  from  himself. 

There  is  another  consideration  to  be  drawn  from  this  subject, 
and  which  is,  that  the  reformed  skeptic  now,  when  he  is  tempted 
by  e^'il  thoughts  or  spirits,  does  not  consider  them  as  a  part  of 
himself,  but  looks  upon  them  in  the  same  light  that  he  would 
upon  an  evil-disposed  person,  who  should  by  his  conversation  or 
otherwise  endeavor  to  tempt  him  to  an  evil  coiu-se.     In  this  case 

fibrils  of  tlie  breast  and  hf  art,  so  gross  and  much  more  gross  is  the  sensual 
and  scientific  iii  i*espcct  to  the  spiritual  and  celestial.  Ho  who  will  investigate 
only  the  hidden  tilings  of  nature,  which  are  innumerable,  with  difficulty  dis- 
covers a  single  one,  and  in  his  investigations  he  falls  into  falsities,  as  is 
known ;  what  if  he  should  investigate  the  hidden  things  of  spiritual  and 
celestial  life,  where  myriads  of  mysteries  exist  for  one  that  is  found  in  visible 
nature  !  For  the  sake  of  illustrating,  let  us  take  this  instance:  man  of  him- 
self cannot  do  otherwise  than  commit  evil,  and  turn  himself  away  from  the 
Lord ;  yet  man  does  not  do  this,  but  the  evil  spirits  who  are  with  him ;  nor 
do  the  evil  spirits,  but  the  evil  itself  which  they  have  appropriated  to  them- 
selves: nevertheless,  man  does  evil  and  turns  himself  away,  and  is  in  fault, 
and  yet  does  not  live  but  from  the  Lord.  So,  on  the  other  hand,  man  of 
himself  cannot  possibly  do  good  and  turn  himself  to  the  Lord,  but  by  the 
angels,  nor  can  the  angels  do  this,  but  the  Lord  alone ;  and  yet  man  can  as 
of  himself  do  good,  and  turn  himself  to  the  Lord.  That  this  is  the  ease, 
neither  the  senses,  nor  science,  nor  philosophy  can  ever  apprehend ;  and  if 
they  are  consulted  as  to  such  propositions  they  wholly  deny  them,  when 
nevertheless  they  are  true,  and  so  in  all  other  cases.  Hence  it  is  evident 
that  they  who  consult  the  things  of  sense  and  science  concerning  what  is  to 
be  believed,  not  only  precipitate  themselves  into  doubt,  but  also  into  denial, 
that  is,  into  darkness  ;  and  in  consequence  of  such  darkness,  into  every  sort 
of  lust :  for  whilst  they  believe  what  is  false,  they  also  do  what  is  false  ;  and 
whilst  they  believe  that  nothing  exists  but  the  corporeal  and  worldly,  thus 
they  love  whatever  relates  to  themselves  and  the  world  ;  and  thus  from  the 
false  spring  lusts  and  evils."     A.  C.  233. 


126  KEGEKKRATIOK    AKD    FREE   AGEKCT. 

he  would  refuse  to  listen ;  and  now,  when  an  evil  thought  arises, 
he  knows  the  source  from  which  it  sprung :  hence  he  listens  not 
to  the  voice  of  the  serpent,  and  drives  the  demon  from  him.  But 
it  is  not  so  with  good  thoughts,  or  those  inspired  by  guardian 
angels  :  these  he  knows  are  from  God  and  his  messengers,  and 
that  by  them  he  is  able  to  subdue  the  world  within. 

The  refoi-med  skeptic  does  not  now  appropriate  as  formerly  the 
e^ils  of  his  fallen  nature  to  himself,  and  if  he  at  times  recedes 
fi-om  the  path  of  obedience  is  forgiven,  and  is  but  in  a  degree 
responsible.  This  is  shown  to  be  the  case  from  the  fact  of  his 
backsliding  having  been  unpremeditated  and  thrice  repented  of, 
and  the  new  life  again  attempted.  But  the  case  is  far  different 
with  him  who  premeditates  evil,  who  refuses  to  forgive  an  enemy, 
and  justifies  himself  in  the  course.  The  one  strives  not  to  do, 
and  dislikes  the  love  which  leads  from  heaven.  But  the  other 
tvirns  to  his  evil  and  confirms  himself  in  his  delusion.  The  man 
who  justifies  himself  in  an  evil  course,  and  secretly  affirms  that 
he  will  transgress,  be  the  consequences  what  they  may,  is  lost,  is 
a  self-murderer,  and  he  and  no  other  is  the  cause  of  his  future 
unhappiness. 

In  whatever  light  we  view  the  subject  of  regeneration  and  of 
man's  freedom,  we  see  that  no  injustice  is  done,  but  the  most 
perfect  justice ;  for  admitting  that  those  of  the  first  and  most  an- 
cient race  (who  did  not  fall)  were  not  free,  there  was  no  injustice 
done  them ;  for  having  committed  no  evil,  they  never  suffered  or 
were  in  any  way  punished.  And  at  the  present  time  a  sincere 
Christian  or  reformed  skeptic  acknowledges,  and  fully,  that  the 
loss  of  property,  the  sickness,  and  afflictions  Avhich  he  receives, 
are  for  the  best ;  are,  as  it  were,  medicine  given  to  him  by  the 
great  Physician  for  his  recovery  and  restoration.  We  hear  no 
murmurs,  no  complaints  of  injustice.  It  is  only  the  skeptic  who 
argues  that  man  is  not  free,  and  hence  not  responsible.  He  does 
this  when  his  conscience,  his  understanding,  his  every-day  ex- 
perience inform.s  him  that  he  is  free,  and  can  at  his  option  partake 
of  the  good  or  evil.  The  skeptic  affirms  that  man  is  not  free,  yet 
there  is  no  individual  living  Avho  sooner  by  his  actions  gives  the 
lie  to  his  assertions  ;  for  let  such  a  pe:  son  be  in  any  way  wronged, 
and  he  immediately  considers  the  offender  who  has  committed  the 
trespass  as  lesponsible,  and  that  he  ought  and  shall  give  satisfac- 


MAN    NOT   SAVED   BY    MIKACLES.  127 

tioa  for  the  injury,  or  suffer  the  penalty  of  the  law.  If  the 
offender  should  plead  that  he  was  not  free,  and  hence  not  respon- 
sible, and  endeavor  by  the  skeptic's  own  reasoning  to  prove  the 
point,  the  argument  wovild  not  be  admitted,  and  tliis  perhaps 
when  the  question  involved  no  pecuniary  loss,  but  merely  re- 
quii'ed  him  to  forgive  the  injury  or  neglect.  The  injunction 
which  says,  "  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  them  do  unto 
you,"  is  a  truth  which  he  will  not  understand.  Of  these  persons 
the  Scriptures  rightly  say,  that  like  a  snarer  setting  his  snares  for 
another,  they  dig  a  pit  for  themselves,  and  ai-e  caught  and  slain 
by  their  own  devices. 

There  is  a  belief  at  the  present  time  zealously  inculcated,  that 
the  Deity,  or  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  regenerating  and  saving  mankind, 
acts  altogether  independently  of  the  laws  of  their  organization,  or 
that  the  influence  is  miraculous.  In  regard  to  this  most  perni- 
cious belief,  we  reply  that  it  is  wholly  untrue,  and  that  there  never 
was  a  time  Avhen  a  rational  being  was  saved  in  this  manner,  or 
acted  upon  to  produce  such  salvation,  as  if  he  were  a  stock  or 
stone. 

In  the  course  of  our  life  we  have  attended  those  meetings 
where  it  Avas  supposed  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  in  a  particvdar 
manner  evincing  itself.  We  have  seen  one  of  those  individuals 
who  believe  that  they  are  endowed  to  produce  such  awakenings, 
begin  his  discourse  by  commencing  witli  a  low,  calm  voice,  and 
step  by  step,  proceed  until  he  had  aroused  himself  into  the  high- 
est state  of  excitement ;  the  house  resounds  Avith  the  peals  of  his 
voice — we  hear  of  oceans  of  flames  and  fire — the  speaker's  eye 
glares  upon  the  crowded  audience — he  threatens,  and  demands, 
using  language  at  times  which  might  be  considered  impious,  and 
not  until  his  voice  is  lioarse  with  shouting,  and  he  has  totally  ex- 
hausted his  powers,  does  he  cease.  We  have  noticed  that  after 
this  eff"ort,  many  of  his  audience,  even  among  them  little  children, 
trembling  Avith  fear  and  excitement,  proceed  to  the  altar ;  and 
have  observed  in  a  few  months  after  that  many  have  been  taken 
into  the  Church,  having,  as  it  was  said,  expe7'ienccd  religion. 
Yet,  notwithstanding,  we  have  still  doubted  and  believed  little 
good  was  accomplished.  W^hy  do  we  see  so  much  irreligion  at 
the  present  day  among  professed   members  of  the  Church?  so 


128  REGENEKATION    AND   FEEE   AGENXY. 

much  lukewarmness,  so  little  sincerity  ?  Why  is  it  that  religious 
journals  throughout  the  country  are  filled  Avith  articles  lamentmg 
the  state  of  the  Church  ?  It  is  because  its  members  have  been 
admitted  when  they  knew  little  or  nothing  concerning  the  trnths 
of  Christianity,  or  had  entered  under  the  influence  of  fear  which 
had  been  impressed  upon  them.  We  can  point  out  in  our  own 
neighborhood  many  instances  of  young  persons  who,  under  the 
influence  of  the  threats  of  the  revivalist,  had  joined  the  Church, 
and  who,  after  remainmg  a  short  period,  left  or  demanded  a  dis- 
missal. There  is  nothing  more  melancholy  than  to  see  the  eager- 
ness with  wliich  new  converts  are  admitted,  and  this  with  little 
or  no  examination ;  this  being  too  often  done,  because  it  is  for 
the  interest  of  the  clergyman  that  he  shoixld  have  as  large  a  con- 
gregation as  possible.  How  many  there  are  at  this  moment  par- 
takers of  the  sacrament,  who  are  wholly  unfit ;  thus  profaning  the 
most  sacred  of  all  things  ! 

That  a  revivalist's  meeting  has  been  a  means  of  awakening  the 
minds  of  some,  and  eventually  causing  them  to  become  those  de- 
serving the  name  of  Christians,  Ave  do  not  deny ;  but  it  Avill  be 
found  in  all  cases  the  regenerate  person  had  thought  much  and 
long  before  concerning  religious  subjects,  and  that  his  mind,  at 
the  time  of  attending  the  meeting,  was  in  a  state  of  equilibrium, 
and  when  a  little  eftbrt  Avould  turn  him.  This  has  been  accom- 
plished by  the  discourse  of  the  clergyman.  In  this  case  it  is, 
CAdnced  that  the  eftbrts  of  the  preacher  Avas  only  one  of  the 
means  and  agencies  by  which  the  Avork  of  reformation  was  com- 
menced ;  for  by  an  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  every  sincere 
Christian,  it  can  be  shoAA'n  that  after  connecting  himself  with  the 
Church,  there  has  been  a  great  struggle  betAveen  old  inclinations 
and  desires  and  those  of  the  neAv  Avill ;  and  that  it  is  only  by  re- 
peated attempts,  which  are  continued  through  hfe,  that  the  new 
mind  gains  the  mastery.  To  suppose  that  the  work  of  regenera- 
tion is  not  gradual  and  progressive,  or  that  the  A'ilest  sinner  can 
be  instantaneously  transformed  into  a  pious  Christian,  is  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Deity  is  a  vacillating  being,  and  not  the  same  yes- 
terday as  to-day.  He  expressly  informs  us  (in  Mai.  iii.  6),  "/  am 
the  Lord  ;  I  change  not ;"  and  if  this  is  so,  then  we  know  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  regenerating  mankind  ever  acts  according  to 
the  law  of  God  and  man's  organization,  and  not  otherwise. 


THE   PENITENT   THIEF.  159 

Frequently  the  case  of  the  supposed  penitent  thief,  who  was 
crucified,  with  the  Saviour,  is  brouglit  forward  to  show  that  God 
has  instantaneously  changed  the  evil  into  the  good.  Upon  exam- 
ining this  subject,  we  find  a  great  disagreement  in  the  statement 
of  the  Evangelists.  St.  Matthew  states,  that  so  far  from  one  of 
the  thieves  becoming  penitent,  that  both  reviled  him ;  for  it  is 
said  in  chap,  xxvii.  44,  that  "  the  thieves  also  which  were  cruci- 
fied with  him  cast  the  same  (the  revilings)  in  his  teeth."  But 
Luke  informs  us  that  only  one  of  them  was  guilty  of  this  bru 
tality,  and  became  penitent,  and  said  to  Jesus,  "  Lord,  remember 
me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom."  Here  in  this  case  is 
seen  an  apparent  contradiction ;  and  the  question  arises,  which  to 
believe  ?  Shall  credence  be  given  to  Matthew,  whose  statement 
agrees  with  the  laws  of  the  Divine  order  and  justice,  and  our 
daily  experience,  or  shall  we  believe  Luke,  and  that  in  this  case 
the  Deity,  influenced  by  motives  of  mercy  and  benevolence,  exer- 
cised his  power  in  a  miraculous  manner  to  save  the  culprit  ?  We 
reply,  that  to  Matthew  belief  should  be  given ;  for  why  should 
the  Deity  have  respect  of  person,  and  exercise  his  mercy  to  the 
thief  more  than  to  thousands  of  others  who  are  equally  deserving  ? 
At  the  same  time,  we  would  not  be  understood  as  intimating  that 
it  was  impossible  for  the  thief  to  be  saved.  But  his  salvation  de- 
pended altogether  upon  what  had  been  his  past  life — the  circum- 
stances which  had  placed  him  in  his  present  situation,  and  of 
what  consisted  his  penitence.  There  have  been  instances  where 
persons  have  been  executed,  who  were  unjustly  accused.  If  the 
person  who  was  crucified  as  a  thief  with  the  Lord  was  one  of 
this  class,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  he  exists  among  the  re- 
deemed ;  but  as  for  a  hardened  villain  being  saved,  it  is  an  im- 
possibility ;  for  if  this  were  true,  the  whole  world  might  be  instan- 
taneously regenerated,  the  place  of  retribution  be  annihilated,  and 
all  be  made  recipients  of  happiness. 

It  is  supposed  by  some  that  Paul  was  suddenly  converted. 
We  will  admit  that  this  is  seemingly  the  case,  but  this  is  all. 
Upon  examining  the  subject,  we  find  it  stated  that  when  Paul 
was  journeying  and  came  near  to  Damascus,  there  suddenly 
shone  round  about  him  a  light  from  heaven ;  and  he  fell  to  the 
earth,  and  heard  a  voice  saying  unto  him,  "  Saul,  Saul,  why  per- 
secutest  thou  me  ?     .     .     .     And  he  trembling  and  astonished 


130  REGENERATION   AND   FREE   AGENCY. 

said,  Lord,  what  wilt  tliou  have  me  do  ?"  Now  we  affirm  that, 
place  any  individual,  however  wicked,  in  the  situation  in  which 
Paul  was  placed,  and  cause  him  to  see  the  astonishing  and  be- 
wildering sight,  and  let  him  hear  the  awful  voice,  and  he  would, 
with  few  inquiries,  be  willing  to  obey  any  command  which  might 
be  required  of  him.  This  was  the  case  with  Paul ;  and  solely 
under  the  influence  of  fear  he  proceeded  to  Damascus,  was  bap- 
tized, and  the  scales  fell  from  his  eyes ;  i.  e.,  he  saw  that  he  had 
been  persecuting  his  own  God  in  h^s  blindness  and  self-delusion. 
It  is  afterwards  stated  that  he  went  about  preaching  the  truths 
of  the  Gospel  with  as  much  zeal  as  before  he  had  taken  to  destroy 
them.  Yet  this  does  not  prove  that  his  conversion  and  regenera- 
tion Avas  instantaneous,  or  different  from  that  which  takes  place 
at  the  present  day.  For  throughout  the  Scriptures,  we  read  of 
,  those  who  had  been  acted  upon  in  the  same  manner  as  was  Paul, 
who  yet  evinced  in  after  life  that  they  knew  little  conceraing  a 
true  religion,  or  in  what  it  consisted.  This  is  shown  to  be  the 
CAse  with  Aaron,  of  whom  Ave  read  that  notwithstanding  he  had 
Avrought  miracles  and  had  taught  the  people,  that  he  and  the 
seventy  elders  of  the  Church  caused  a  golden  calf  to  be  made, 
s/hich  they  worshipped.  This  evinces  that  their  behef  Avas  an 
external  one,  and  caused  by  fear ;  and  that  as  soon  as  the  dread 
of  the  Deity  Avas  removed,  they  Avould  resort  to  that  which  they 
loved  best,  or  their  idol-Avorship.  If  they  had  had  a  rational  and 
sincere  belief  in  the  great  truths  revealed  to  them,  they  would 
not  have  thus  relapsed  into  their  former  evils. 

The  observations  Avhich  have  been  made  concerning  Paul,  are 
also  applicable  to  that  part  of  the  Scriptures  in  AA'hich  it  is  stated, 
that  "  many  of  them  Avhich  heard  the  Word  believed,  and  the 
number  of  the  men  Avas  about  five  thousand."  By  this  passao-e 
it  is  to  be  understood  that  many,  after  seeing  the  miracles 
wrought,  and  hearing  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles,  rejected  the 
idol-Avorship,  and  believed  that  there  Avas  but  the  one  Deity,  and 
that  he  Avas  the  God  of  the  Christians.  But  the  mere  act  of 
affirming  Avith  the  voice  that  they  believed,  did  not  make  them 
regenerate  persons ;  and  Ave  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
those  of  the  five  thousand  who  in  the  end  Avere  saved,  Avorked 
out  in  after  life,  Avith  God's  assistance,  their  OAvn  sah-ation,  and 
were  saved  on  no  other  terms. 


FALSE   VIEWS   OF   MYSTERIES.  131 

There  may  be  passages  in  tlie  Scriptures,  and  in  the  history  of 
extraordinary  re\ivals,  where  many,  in  a  seemingly  miraculous 
manner,  have  been  brought  to  believe ;  yet  still  the  fact  is  evin- 
ced, that  in  no  case  was  man's  free  agency  destroyed,  or  his 
reformation  and  regeneration  produced  except  progressively,  and 
as  at  the  present  day.  As  before  observed,  there  are  thousands 
at  the  present  time  who  self-delude  themselves  when  they  join 
the  Church ;  and  it  may  well  be  believed  (as  human  nature  for 
ao-es  has  been  the  same)  that  this  was  the  case  in  former  times. 

We  are  informed  by  those  who  believe  that  man  can  be  acted 
upon  as  if  a  stock  or  stone,  that  this  is  a  great  mystery,  yet  still 
to  be  believed — that  man,  in  reference  to  this  subject,  is  the  most 
insignificant  of  all  things — "an  emmet  set  upon  a  hill" — that 
there  are  o'ther  mysteries  equally  abstruse,  which  are  beheved  ; 
and  because  they  are,  we  should  give  credence  to  this.  That 
there  are  mysteries  on  every  side  is  admitted ;  but  that  there  is 
any  like  this,  is  denied.  We  see  that  it  is  an  unknown  vital  prin- 
ciple which  causes  the  vegetable  world  to  grow ;  what,  and  how 
it  is,  we  know  not ;  yet  it  is  believed  that  it  is  so.  Credence  is 
given  because  it  is  necessary  that  there  should  be  some  explana- 
tion of  tlie  phenomenon.  We  give  it  the  more  willingly  because 
it  glorifies  the  Creator,  and  does  not  in  any  manner  touch  or  in- 
fringe his  justice  and  goodness.  But  it  is  not  so  in  reference  to 
the  mystery  taught  by  those  who  affirmi  that  it  is  possible  for 
man  to  be  instantaneously  saved ;  for  in  this  case  there  is  a  mys- 
tery, and  at  the  same  time  it  is  indirectly  affirmed  that  God  is 
unjust ;  for  by  a  true  process  of  thought,  and  which  is  capable  of 
being  comprehended  by  the  most  unenlightened,  it  is  seen  that  if 
a  father  (and  we  are  informed  that  God  is  our  Father)  with  the 
ability,  refuses  to  assist  and  relieve  the  misery  of  his  children, 
and  instantaneously  saves  others,  he  is  not  a  being  of  goodness, 
or  one  whom  we  can  love  or  respect.  It  is  a  mystery,  and  one 
concerning  Avhich  it  is  suitable  to  compare  with  others,  how  the 
miracle  of  the  loaves  and  fishes  was  wrought ;  yet  we  beheve  it, 
because  it  does  not  infringe  upon  those  eternal  principles  by 
which  Heaven  itself  exists.  Deny  them,  or  endeavor  to  prove 
that  the  Deity  can  act  in  opposition  to  himself,  and  we  are  lost ; 
and  may  with  equal  propriety  worship  a  Moloch,  or  the  Jugger- 
naut of  the  Hindoo,  as  a  God  of  justice  and  goodness. 


132  KEGKNfiRATION    AND   FREE    AGENCY. 

In  connection  with  this  subject,  it  is  taught  by  those  who  arro- 
gate to  themselves  a  superiority  in  their  rehgious  belief,  that 
works  are  not  absolutely  necessary,  and  that  a  man  can  be  saved 
without  them.  It  is  indeed  admitted  that  works,  or  the  perform- 
ance of  certain  practical  duties,  are  the  results  of  faith,  yet  the 
precedence  is  given  to  faith,  and  the  former  are  not  considered  an 
indispensable  adjunct.  It  can  be  seen,  that  this  is  a  most  perni- 
cious belief,  and  a  reason  why  delay  is  induced  in  attending  to 
the  affairs  of  religion  and  trust  placed  in  the  most  false  of  securi- 
ties. A  true  faith  cannot  be  acquired  without  repentance ;  and 
what  is  repentance  ?  Is  it  a  transitory  fear,  which  vanishes  the 
moment  the  danger  is  believed  to  have  gone  ?  or  is  it  a  sincere 
desire  springing  from  the  heart  to  put  away  evils  and  lead  a  new 
life  ?  If  it  is  the  former,  it  is  no  repentance  ;  but  if  the  latter, 
and  it  is  e\inced  by  Hving  evidence  (without  which  it  is  void), 
then  we  may  believe  there  exists  true  penitence.  What  is  the 
repentance  of  the  murderer  on  the  gallows,  but  this  transitory- 
fear — the  dread  of  future  retribution  ?  He  has  no  real  desire  or 
wish  to  become  a  moral,  religious,  and  useful  being.  And  it  is 
the  same  with  the  skeptic  amid  the  fury  of  the  gale,  and  when 
momentarily  expecting  to  be  engulfed  by  the  raging  waters. 
And  it  is  similar  in  the  sick-room.  In  these  places,  it  is  promised 
that  if  the  danger  is  escaped,  in  future  they  will  lead  a  new  life. 
But  how  soon  do  the  generality  of  such  persons  forget  the  sol- 
emn vow,  and  when  the  peril  is  over,  remember  it  as  a  thing  of 
naught ! 

It  may  be  said  that  faith  and  works  should  not  go  together, 
because  it  would  make  the  latter  meritorious ;  but  it  is  evident 
that  this  is  only  a  plausible  way  of  reasonmg,  to  gild  the  wicked 
doctrine ;  for  any  one  who  is  at  all  acquainted  with  the  nature  of 
a  sincere  belief,  well  knows  that  he  will  never  enter  heaven  be- 
cHu-;e  he  deseiTes  and  claims  it  as  a  reward,  and  from  the  good 
works  done  in  this  life.  Far  from  it ;  for  who  was  the  cause  of 
his  good  works  ?  Who  prompted  the  thought  which  led  him  to 
examine  the  Scriptures  ?  It  vras  his  God  and  Saviour,  who 
through  his  life  had  ever,  even  seventy  times  seven,  forgiven  those 
repeated  \iolations  of  his  law,  even  when  it  was  known  what  was 
his  duty.  It  is  true  he  has  performed  good  works,  forgiven  his 
enemy,  led  a  life  of  uses,  and  done,  in  secret,  deeds  of  benevo- 


CONCEKNING   FAITH,  133 

lence ;  yet  if  he  had  not  received  assistance  from  the  Fountain  of 
goodness,  he  never  could  have  effected  them.  Without  his  un- 
ceasincf  assistance  he  could  not  exist;  hence  he  has  nothino-  to 
ascribe  to  himself — nothing  which  in  any  manner  is  to  be  consid- 
ered as  meritorious.* 

It  is  affirmed  that  the  doctrine  of  Faith  is  necessary,  because 
there  are  many  cases  when  it  is  impossible  for  works  to  be  done ; 
but  this  is  fallacious  reasoning ;  for  why  should  the  multitude 
perish  that  few  may  be  saved  ?  We  doubt  whether  there  is  an 
irreligious  person,  who  has  a  belief  in  another  life,  but  who  se- 
cretly flatters  himself  that  at  some  time,  when  he  has  accom- 
plished this  and  that  purpose,  he  will  then  give  the  subject  of 
religion  an  examination,  and  lead  a  better  life.  But  this  time 
never  comes,  and  is  put  off  until  it  is  too  late  and  he  is  irrecover- 
ably lost ;  and  one  reason  which  has  accelerated  his  fall,  is  be- 
cause the  false  doctrine  is  preached,  that  works  are  not  absolutely 
necessary  for  salvation ;  that  there  is  hope  in  a  death-bed  repen- 
tance— hope,  when  trembling  on  the  verge  of  eternity,  the  guilty 
person  affirms  that  he  believes ;  and  frequently  this  mockery  of 
religion  is  earned  to  such  a  height,  that  if  the  person  is  wealthy, 
at  the  funeral  he  is  made  the  subject  of  eulogy,  and  the  friends 
are  congratulated  on  the  change  of  mind  and  penitence  evinced ! 
Truly  it  may  be  said  of  such  teachers  of  the  Gospel,  that  they  are 
"  blind  leaders  of  the  blind." 

Even  the  Catholics,  notwithstanding  their  many  absurdities, 
have  in  respect  to  this  subject,  a  better  belief  than  many  of  those 
who  oppose  them ;  for  they  teach,  with  St.  James,  that  fcUth  and 
works  are  one  and  inseparable.  The  doctrine  that  faith  and  good 
works  go  together,  is  so  self-evident,  that  it  appears  incredible 
that  it  should  by  any  i-ational  mind  have  been  considered  other- 
wise. What  a  different  result  might  be  expected,  were  it  shown 
and  taught  as  a  self-evident  truth  and  axiom,  that  no  one  could 

*  We  believe  that  it  is  impossible  for  one  not  to  be  saved  if  he  has 
led  a  good  and  sincere  life  ;  and  the  great  Being  is  of  this  to  be  the  judge. 
If  he  has  led  such  a  life,  then  by  the  law  of  the  Divine  order,  there  is  a  ne- 
cessity that  he  should  be  adjudged  to  the  enjoyment  of  eternal  life.  To  as- 
sert to  the  contrary,  would  be  asserting  that  the  Deity  is  not  what  he  is : 
that  is,  a  Being  of  intinite  goodness  and  wisdom.  As  it  is  impossible  to 
transform  an  evil  spirit  into  an  angel,  so  likewise  is  it  impracticable  to 
sentence  a  truly  good  man,  in  the  other  life,  to  the  regions  of  darkness. 


184  REGENERATION    AND   FREE   AGENCY. 

hope  foi-  salvation  if  he  did  not  show  by  deeds  that  his  faith  was 
sincere !  How  many  (wlio  now  delay)  would  consider  the  sub- 
ject, if  it  were  known  that  salvation  could  not  be  expected  if 
the  means  which  effect  it  Avere  not  sought  for  until  the  close  of 
life! 

There  are  a  few  passages  in  the  Scriptures  where  it  is  seem- 
ingly implied  that  man  can  be  saved  by  faith  alone,  but  this  is 
all ;  and  it  was  never  taught  by  the  Apostles  that  works  are  not 
necessary  for  salvation.  We  are  informed  that  in  the  saying  of 
Paul  (Rom.  iii.  28),  viz.,  "  that  a  man  is  justified  by  faith  without 
the  deeds  of  the  law,"  reference  is  not  had  to  the  works  of  the 
decalogue,  or  the  Ten  Commandments,  but  the  works  of  the  Mo- 
saic law,  which  was  written  for  the  Jews.  This  is  evinced  from 
what  Paul  says  in  the  29th  verse  of  the  same  chapter ;  to  wit : 
"  Do  Ave  then  make  void  the  law  (the  Ten  Commandments)  by 
faith  ?  God  forbid !  yea,  we  establish  the  law."  The  same 
thmg  is  also  shown  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  ii.  14,  15. 

We  close  our  observations  on  this  head  by  adducing  from  the 
Scriptures  a  few  of  the  numerous  passages  in  which  it  is  said 
that  every  man  will  be  judged  and  recompensed  according  to  his 
works.  Thus  it  is  written  in  Matt.  xvi.  21,  "The  Son  of  Man 
shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  with  his  angels,  and  then 
he  will  reward  every  man  according  to  his  works."  "  Blessed 
ire  the  dead  Avho  die  in  the  Lord  ;  yea,  saitli  the  Spirit,  that  they 
may  rest  from  their  labors ;  their  tvorks  follow  them." — Rev. 
xiv.  13.  "  I  will  give  to  every  one  according  to  his  ivorks." — 
Rev.  xi.  23.  "I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  standing  before 
God  ;  and  the  books  were  opened,  and  the  dead  were  judo-ed 
accordmg  to  those  things  which  were  written  in  the  books — ac- 
cording to  their  works."  "  The  sea  gave  up  those  who  were 
dead  in  it,  and  death  and  hell  gave  up  those  who  were  in  them, 
and  they  were  judged  evenj  one  according  to  their  ivorks." — Rev. 
XX.  13,  15.  "Behold  I  come,  and  my  reward  is  with  me,  that  I 
may  give  to  every  one  according  to  his  tvorks." — Rev.  xx.  11,  12. 
"Every  trecAvhich  cloth  not  hear  good  fruit,  is  cut  down  and  cast 
into  the  fire."— Matt.  vii.  19,  20,  21.  "Jesus  said,  my  mother 
and  my  brethren,  are  those  Avho  hear  the  word  of  God  and  do  it." 
"  Every  one  that  heareth  my  Avords  and  doeth  them,  I  v/ill  com- 
pare to  a  prudent  man  ;    but  every  one  that  heareth  mv  words 


SCRIPTURE   'IKS'miONY.  135 

and  doetk  them  not,  is  compared  to  a  foolish  man." — Matt.  vii. 
24,  26.  "  Not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are  justified  by  God,  but 
the  doers  of  the  law." — Rom.  ii.  13  ;  James  i.  22.  "1  will  rec- 
ompense them  according  to  their  works,  and  according  to  the 
deed  of  their  hands." — Jer.  xxv.  14.  "Jehovah,  whose  eyes  are 
open  upon  all  the  ways  of  man,  to  give  to  every  one  according  to 
his  tvays,  and  according  to  the  fruit  of  his  works." — Jer.  xxxii.  19. 
"  I  Avill  \asit  upon  his  ic-.iys,  and  recompense  to  him  his  ivorks." — 
Hos.  iv.  9.  ''  Jehovah  doeth  with  us  according  to  our  luays,  and 
according  to  our  woi'ks." — Zech.  i.  6. 


SECTIOjS^   X. 


THE  ATONEMENT  OR  RECONCILIATION. 

The  next  subject  which  presents  itself  for  examination  is,  con- 
cerning the  work  of  redemption  which  the  Lord  performed  when 
on  this  earth,  or  what  is  called  by  many  the  atonement  and  me- 
diation of  Jesus  Christ.  Properly  to  exhibit  this  subject,  and 
show  the  manner  in  which  the  Deity  became  a  Saviour  and  Re- 
deemer, it  is  necessary  that  we  commence  at  the  beginning. 
After  man  had  abused  his  freedom  and  fell  from  the  happy  state 
in  which  he  was  created,  he  at  death  departed  to  the  other  life. 
What  is  called  hell  was  not  formed  suddenly  but  progressively. 
Step  by  step,  as  evil  increased  in  this  world  it  augmented  in  the 
other,  and  those  that  existed  in  the  regions  of  darkness  became 
consociated  with  the  wicked  on  this  earth.  Before  the  advent  of 
the  Saviour,  evil  spirits  had  increased  to  myriads,  for  none  had 
ceased  to  live  who  had  existed  from  the  first  creation.  The  e-vil 
ones  had  not  only  infested  the  minds  of  those  who  resembled 
themselves,  but  they  had  at  the  same  time  influenced  others  in 
such  a  manner  as  nearly  to  destroy  their  power  of  distinguishing 
the  ffood  from  the  evil.  Nor  was  this  all,  for  the  lemons  of 
demons  had  increased  in  such  countless  numbers,  and  become  so 
skilled  in  their  infernal  arts,  that  they  had  dared  to  attack  heaven 
itself  and  attempt  its  overthrow.  When  the  universe  was  in  this 
crisis,  and  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  greater,  the  Deity  foresaw 
in  his  wisdom  that  there  was  but  one  manner  of  proceeding  to 
prevent  the  inevitable  destruction  which  threatened,  and  this  was 
that  he  should  appear  in  our  world ;  take  upon  himself  man's 
nature  and  evils ;  suffer  the  greatest  of  temptations  ;  subjugate 
the  hell  or  evil  spirits ;  establish  order  in  tiie  heavens ;  and  at 


NECESSITY    OF    THE    INCARNATION.  137 

the  same  time  give  a  new  dispensation  to  mankind,  and  show  by 
a  sensible  appearance  what  in  reahty  were  his  attributes,  and  that 
he  was  indeed  a  Being  of  love  and  goodness. 

The  Scriptures  inform  us  that  he  did  appear,  was  born  of  a 
woman,  suffered  temptations,  gave  repeated  instances  of  his  un- 
dying love  for  his  children,  performed  miracles  such  as  never  be- 
fore were  wrought,  was  crucified,  rose  from  the  place  of  sepulture 
a  gloiitied  Being,  having  opened  the  way  that  fallen  humanity 
might  be  i-econciled  to  himself. 

Upon  examining  the  above  statement  it  can  be  seen,  that 
the  Lord  was  the  Saviour  of  the  world  in  a  similar  manner 
as  was  Washington  the  saviour  of  his  country.  If  Washington 
had  not  done  what  he  did,  our  happy  land  would  still  have 
been  under  the  influence  of  British  tyranny;  and  if  the  great 
Being  had  not  appeared  in  this  world,  and  combated  its  ene- 
mies, all  would  have  been  lost.  Thei-e  are,  as  we  have  before 
shown,  many  individuals  who  utterly  disbeheve  that  order  is 
heavc7is first  law,  or  that  the  great  Lawgiver  is  obedient  to  or  neces- 
sitated to  uphold  his  own  eternal  decrees.  By  such  persons  om- 
observations  cannot  be  comprehended,  for  they  Avill  immediately 
ask,  Why  should  God  have  thus  acted  ?  Could  he  not  regenei*- 
Hte  the  whole  world  in  a  day  ?  What  are  men,  or  angels,  or  evil 
spirits  to  him  ?  Cannot  he  in  a  moment  destroy  or  recreate 
them  ?  For  ourselves,  who  admit  not  such  an  annihilation  of 
our  rational  powers,  it  appears  that  there  was  a  stern  necessity 
for  the  great  Being  at  that  appointed  time  to  come  into  the 
world.  Indeed  we  have  the  express  words  of  the  Lord  himself 
on  this  subject,  who  in  answer  to  the  interrogatories  of  his  dis- 
ciples, informs  them  that  thus  it  must  be,  that  there  was  a 
necessity  for  it,  that  Peter  should  put  up  his  sword  and  suffer 
the  multitude  to  lay  hold  of  him.  In  Luke  the  Lord  repeats  the 
solemn  affirmation,  and  informs  us  that  it  is  easier  for  heaven 
and  earth  to  pass  away,  than  one  tittle  of  the  law  (or  the  divine 
order)  to  fail.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Saviour  would 
have  endured  the  sufferings  of  the  cross,  if  the  result,  all  things 
considered,  could  have  been  avoided.  To  believe  that  they 
could  have  been,  is  to  suppose  that  the  Deity  acted  in  contradic- 
tion to  his  attributes,  and  is  not  a  Being  of  perfect  wisdom  and 
fifoodness. 


138  THE   ATONEMENT    OR   RECONCILIATION. 

As  before  observed,  the  reason  why  the  Lord  came  into  the 
world  at  this  era  was,  that  those  livinq;  micjht  know  of  what  con- 
sisted  his  real  attributes,  what  was  his  character,  who  and  what 
he  was,  and  why  such  a  Being  existed.  For  the  real  truth  at 
that  period  was  with  few  exceptions  lost,  and  not  known  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  Romans  and  Grecians  believed  in 
the  numerous  gods  of  their  mythology  ;  and  at  the  shrines  of 
Jupiter,  Diana,  and  others  Avere  to  be  found  numerous  worship- 
pers. As  for  the  Jewish  nation,  they  were  nearly  in  as  great  ig- 
norance as  others,  having  so  perverted  the  truths  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament that  truth  had  become  its  opposite,  and  was  chiefly  used 
as  a  means  by  which  the  people  might  be  kept  in  the  bonds  of 
darkness  and  superstition.  Now  as  the  Israelites  had  been  before 
selected  as  the  people  by  whom  the  Deity  had  made  communi- 
cations with  mankind,  and  had  made  use  of  them  as  instruments 
by  which  the  world  was  eventually  to  be  regenerated,  it  was  in 
the  divine  decree,  and  that  the  Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled,  that 
they  should  still  be  the  people  among  whom  he  should  make  his 
visible  appearance. 

In  effecting  the  divine  purposes  among  a  people  immersed  in 
so  great  darkness,  it  was  necessary  that  different  means  should 
be  adopted  than  those  exhibited  at  the  call  of  Abraham  and  at 
Mount  Sinai.  Then  it  was  necessary  chiefly  to  inform  them 
that  the  Deity  was  more  powerful  than  other  gods,  and  it  was 
allowed  them  to  believe  that  he  could  accomplish  any  thing, 
however  irrational ;  but  at  that  era,  it  was  essential  that  the 
human  race  should  as  far  as  possible  know  that  the  great  Ruler 
was  a  Being  of  goodness — that  they  were  free  agents — that  if 
they  or  their  descendants  wished  to  relieve  themselves  from  their 
miseries  they  must  co-operate  with  him.  Now  the  miracles 
wrought  at  Sinai  Avould  not  accomplish  this,  for  they  acted  chiefly 
on  man's  sense  of  fear,  and  did  not  affect  the  intellect  or  cause 
truth  to  be  loved  for  its  own  sake.  Hence  it  was  necessary  that 
the  Deity  should  appear  in  human  shape,  and  show  not  only  by 
miracles,  but  by  living  deeds  of  benevolence  and  lessons  of  wis- 
dom, what  in  reality  were  his  attributes.  The  Deity  before  ap- 
pearing and  making  himself  manifest  in  the  flesh,  and  in  order  to 
excite  the  attention  of  the  Jews  to  spiritual  subjects,  caused'John 
the  Baptist  to  make  his  appearance  as  the  forerunner  of  the  new 


SHOWN   BY    AN    ILLL'STRATION,  139 

dispensation  and  the  good  tidings,  and  preach  the  doctrine  of  re- 
pentance ;  for  the  Jews  had  so  greatly  perverted  the  truth  that  they 
had  at  this  time  neghxted  to  preach  this  most  essential  of  duties. 
When  the  appointed  time  had  arrived,  the  Deity  our  Saviour  did 
appear,  and  exercised  his  omnipotence  in  the  following  manner : 
thus  he  gave  sight  to  the  Wind ;  healed  the  sick ;  restored  the 
dead  ;  led  a  life  of  the  greatest  purity ;  and  at  the  same  time  by 
other  acts  evinced  that  he  Avas  indeed  a  Being  of  surpassing 
power,  Avisdom,  and  goodness.  The  effect  of  this  and  the  divine 
influence  which  ever  was  proceeding  from  him,  caused  the  sins 
and  hereditary  evils  of  some  of  his  followers,  which  alone  pre- 
vented them  from  seeing  the  truth,  to  be  for  a  time  quieted. 
When  this  was  effected,  then  were  their  minds  placed  in  a  situa- 
tion in  which  they  might  be  acted  upon ;  for  by  quieting  their 
evil  thoughts  the  Deity  enabled  the  truth  to  gain  a  lodgment  in 
their  minds,  and  caused  it  to  remain  a  sufficient  time  that  they 
might  reflect  and  judge  concerning  it,  and  whether  it  was  as  he 
informed  them,  and  when  this  was  found  as  represented,  that 
they  then  might  freely  acknowledge  it  to  be  the  truth,  practise 
it,  and  become  his  disciples. 

The  case  was  the  same  as  if  an  attempt  were  made  to  instruct 
a  savage,  who  has  little  or  no  idea  concerning  the  arts  and 
sciences.  If  the  purpose  is  endeavored  to  be  effected  suddenly, 
nothing  Can  be  accomplished.  We  must  proceed  gradually — 
first  arrest  his  attention,  in  some  manner  please  him,  then  teach 
some  simple  truth,  and  exemplify  it;  and  afterwards  explain 
to  him  the  good  which  Avill  proceed  from  thus  acting,  and  the 
evil  which  will  result  from  the  taking  of  a  contrary  course. 
The  savage,  if  capable  of  being  instructed,  when  he  hears  our 
words  and  sees  what  we  have  done,  recollects  it,  reasons  con- 
cerning it,  and  concludes,  seeing  the  good  which  will  result  to 
himself,  that  he  will  hereafter  act  thus,  and  that  it  is  a  truth  and 
example  worthy  of  being  followed.  Now  in  this  simple  manner 
did  the  incarnate  God  our  Saviour  proceed  with  the  people  anions.' 
whom  he  was.  He  at  the  first,  as  we  have  shown,  arrested  thei; 
attention  by  enacting  miracles,  and  by  his  deeds  of  surpassing 
benevolence.  He  then  informs  them  that  he  is  the  Messiah  oJ 
whom  their  prophets  had  wn-itten,  and  whom  they  had  so  loni, 
anxiously  expected.     When  his  followers  saAV  that  he  had  the 


140  THE   ATONEMENT   OR   RECOXCILIATION, 

power  of  performing  miracles,  they  believed  that  at  least  he 
was  a  great  prophet:  but  the  truth  which  accompanied  the 
supernatural  manifestation,  finally  caused  them  to  believe  that  the 
Being  who  thus  appeared  before  them  was  indeed  their  Saviour 
and  God. 

It  has  been  observed  that  when  the  Deity  established  truth  in 
the  world,  and  opened  the  nearly  lost  communication  with  man- 
kind, that  he  at  the  same  time  conquered  and  subdued  the  evil 
spirits  in  the  hidden  world.  It  may  be  asked  how  it  was  that 
he  restored  order  in  the  heavens  ?  or  if  it  was  not  possible  to 
have  so  established  it  before  he  came  upon  this  earth  ?  To  this 
we  reply  in  the  negative.  The  evil  beings  who  existed  in  the 
spiritual  world  were  so  intimately  connected  with  the  inhabitants 
of  this  earth,  that  the  one  could  not  be  overcome  without  the 
other ;  besides  it  was  impossible  to  act  in  the  hidden  world  with- 
out proceeding  according  to  the  divine  order.  The  great  Being's 
divine  order  is,  that  he  loves  his  enemies,  even  those  who  despite- 
fuUy  use  and  persecute  him.  His  benevolence  is  such  that  it  is 
an  unchangeable  laAv  of  his  nature  ;  that  it  never  causes  or  per- 
mits, even  to  those  who  oppose  him,  any  more  suffering  than  is 
absolutely  necessary.  If  the  Deity  had  appeared  unveiled,  and 
in  the  inconceivable  radiance  of  his  splendor,  he  would  have 
caused  the  evil  ones  to  have  experienced  agonizing  pains — pains 
like  that  which  would  be  felt  if  a  fiery  and  blazing  comet  should 
leave  its  appointed  course  and  approach  this  earth.  By  the 
Lord's  clothing  his  soul  with  a  form  of  flesh  and  appearing  upon 
this  world,  he  procured  to  himself  spiritual  weapons  with  which 
he  might  combat  the  powers  of  darkness.  It  was  according  to 
the  divine  order,  that  in  subjugating  them  they  should  combat 
with  him ;  and  this  they  could  not  have  done  had  he  not  taken 
upon  himself  man's  nature,  for  the  divinity  itself  is  incapable  of 
being  tempted.  Before  the  great  Being's  advent,  the  evil  spirits 
had  attempted  to  destroy  the  equilibrium  between  good  and  evil. 
By  his  coming  this  equilibrium  was  restored.  The  war  in  heaven 
was  a  combat  between  the  two  great  antagonist  principles,  the 
good  and  the  evil ;  and  this  was  not  a  warfare  to  be  accomphshed 
in  one  engagement,  but  was  to  be  gradual  and  progressive,  and 
step  by  step  was  the  enemy  to  he  driven  out,  and  oi-der  restored 
in  the  spiritual  world. 


Sl'IKITUAL    WARFARE.  141 

Nothing  appears  more  astonishing  than  to  think  for  a  moment 
that  there  could  in  reality  ever  have  been  war  in  heaven  (or  in 
the  spiritual  world),  for  our  ideas  of  the  great  Being's  omnipotence 
are  such,  that  we  would  suppose  that  he  never  would  have  allowed 
the  powers  of  e\-il  so  to  prevail  that  they  could  assail  heaven ; 
and  if  they  did  arise,  he  Avith  infinite  ease  could  immediately,  and 
without  appearing  on  this  earth,  have  repelled  them.  But  upon 
being  acquainted  with  the  fact  that  evil  spirits  are  free  agents, 
that  the  Deity  ever  acts  according  to  his  divine  order,  that  this 
order  is  such  that  no  part  could  be  infringed  without  detriment 
to  the  whole,  the  difficulty  is  removed  ;  and  it  is  seen  that  even 
he  acts  and  redeems  according  to  those  great  laws  by  Avhich  all 
things  are  governed.  Th^t  there  has  been  at  different  periods 
war  in  the  heavens,  or  a  subjugation  of  evil  spirits  in  the  hidden 
world,  is  evident  from  many  passages  in  the  Scriptures.  Thus  in 
Joshua  X.  12,  13,  reference  is  made  to  "the  lost  book  of  Jasher, 
and  of  the  wors  of  Jehovah."  In  Revelation  the  subject  is 
mentioned,  and  we  are  distinctly  informed  that  there  was  "  war 
in  heaven,  Michael  and  his  angels  fought  against  the  dragon,  and 
the  dragon  fought  and  his  angels."*  Here  evident  allusion  is 
made  concerning  a  spiritual  combat  between  the  good  and  evil 
principle,  or  God  and  the  devil. 

No  one  can  comprehend  or  understand  the  manner  in  which 
the  Lord  accomplished  the  work  of  redemption,  and  subjugation 
of  the  powers  of  evil,  unless  he  has  in  some  degree  experienced 
in  his  own  person  the  work  of  reformation,  and  has  taken  up  the 
cross  and  followed  the  example  of  his  Saviour ;  for  man's  regen- 
eration is,  on  a  miniature  scale,  an  exact  image  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  Lord  rescued  fallen  humanity  and  reconciled  it  to  him- 
self. A  man,  when  first  the  light  dawns  on  his  bewildered  mind, 
finds  himself  surrounded  by  evil  spirits  or  thoughts  who  have 
him  under  their  control ;  he  wishes  to  drive  them  from  him,  wishes 
to  be  master  of  the  world  within,  desires  to  have  the  mind  reign 
triumphant  over  the  body,  but  how  can  this  be  done  ?  It  cannot 
be  effected  except  he  as  of  himself  resists  temptations  and  drives 
the  evil  spirits  or  inclinations  from  him.  He  eflfects  it  as  of  him- 
self, yet  at  the  same  time  believes  and  knows  that  it  is  by  the 

*  Eev.  xii.  7. 


142  THE   ATONEMENT   OB   RECONCILIATION. 

help  of  the  Lord  that  he  is  so  enabled  to  resist  them.  He  knows 
this  for  the  reason  that  before  he  asked  for  his  assistance  he  found 
he  could  do  nothing.  And  each  month  and  year  as  he  gains  the 
mastery  and  resists  the  temptations  of  evil  spirits,  he  glorifies  his 
spiritual  body  ;  and  finally  at  the  close  of  the  work  of  redemption 
and  of  his  life,  he  subdues  the  miniature  hell,  restores  order  in  the 
heaven  which  he  carries  within  him,  and  his  better  sentiments 
reio-n  triumphant.  When  this  is  accomplished  he  is  at  one  with 
his  Saviour,  and  has  reconciled  hi:  fallen  humanity  with  the 
divinity,  l^ow  in  this  manner  did  the  Lord  efl'ect  the  work  of 
redemption  and  reconcile  the  fallen  humanity  to  himself,  Avith  the 
difference  that  though  he  took  upon  himself  the  whole  burden  of 
the  Avorld's  evils,  and  sufl:ered  the  most  grievous  temptations,  yet 
through  all  periods  ever  remained  the  same  sinless  Being. 

We  read  that  he  descended  into  nature  and  was  bom  of  a 
woman.  When  a  little  child  he  could  not  enact  miracles,  because 
the  hereditary  evils  which  he  derived  from  his  mother  liad  not 
been  overcome,  and  he  had  not,  by  a  resistance  of  temptations 
and  conflicts  with  the  powers  of  evil,  subdued  them  and  glorified 
the  humanity  in  which  he  existed  sufficiently  to  enable  it  to  per- 
form those  miracles  which  were  afterwards  wrought.  A  man 
prior  to  the  Avork  of  regeneration  has  little  or  no  power  over  his 
evil  inclinations,  and  it  is  only  by  slow  degrees  that  he  is  enabled, 
with  his  divine  Master,  to  say  to  the  demons,  "  Peace,  be  still." 
The  glorification  or  making  di\nne  of  the  body  in  Avhich  the  Deity 
existed,  progressed  much  more  rapidly  than  the  regeneration  of 
any  human  individual ;  for  Ave  are  informed  that  at  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  "  he  was  found  in  the  temple,  sitting  in  the  midst 
of  the  doctors,  both  hearing  them  and  asking  questions,  and  as- 
tonishing all  by  his  ansAvers."  This  evinces  that  the  light  and 
knowledge  daAvned  upon  his  mind  at  an  early  period.  Until  the 
age  of  thirty  little  is  recorded  of  the  Saviour's  life,  yet  it  is  not 
from  this  to  be  supposed  that  he  Avas  unemployed.  Far  from  it. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  during  this  interval  he  was 
as  actively  engaged  m  the  work  of  redemption,  as  at  any  period 
of  his  life. 

It  may  be  asked  hoAv  it  Avas  the  Lord  suffered  upon  the  cross  ? 
Rightly  to  examine  this  subject,  it  is  necessary  that  reference  be 
made  to  man's  own  regeneration.     A  man  Avhen  experiencing  the 


NATURE    OF   THE   LORD'S    PASSION.  143 

work  of  reformation,  at  times  appears  as  if  he  were  two  different 
persons.  At  one  time  he  is,  as  it  were,  in  a  state  of  glorification ; 
for  those  fierce  and  bitter  passions  have  fled,  and  he  has  subdued 
and  is  master  of  the  world  within.  At  this  moment  his  cares 
have  gone,  nature  puts  on  a  smiling  aspect,  and  he  is  filled  with 
an  angelic  spirit  of  peace  and  happiness.  But  the  scene  changes, 
the  smiling  landscape  has  fled,  clouds  and  darkness  throw  their 
deep  shadows  upon  every  side.  Now  is  the  state  of  his  humilia- 
tion, now  does  he  feel  his  want  of  spirituality,  his  want  of  good- 
ness. It  appears  that  what  he  has  done  is  as  nothing,  that  it  is 
wholly  impossible  to  conquer  and  subdue  the  Avorld  of  evil  within. 
The  Spirit  of  God  appears  to  have  left  never  to  return ;  poverty, 
sickness,  and  other  grievous  things  may  join  in  the  contest,  and 
his  sufferings  are  indeed  great.  Now  the  Saviour  when  suffering 
on  the  cross  was  in  a  state  of  humiliation  similar  to  man's,  with 
the  exception  that  the  agony  and  spiritual  temptation  was  so  in- 
conceivable that  he  cried,  as  if  addressing  another.  Why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me  ?  In  this  situation  the  Saviour  for  a  time  believed, 
as  man  believes,  that  the  Spirit  of  the  Divinity  had  forsaken  him, 
that  the  powers  of  darkness  could  not  be  subdued,  and  that  all 
would  be  lost.  At  this  time  his  dinne  nature  had  seemingly  for- 
saken him,  and  he  relapsed  back  into  the  humanity  or  human  na- 
ture which  he  had  from  his  mother.  At  this  period  came  his 
severest  trials,  for  seemingly  by  his  own  human  strength  was  he 
to  subdue  the  evil.  He  was  to  effect  it  in  the  same  manner  as 
man  conquers  when  in  the  hour  of  trial  he  resists  the  voice  of  the 
serpent  as  of  himself,  and  when  God  is  seemingly  absent.  And 
the  temptation  was  the  greater  because  he  had  been  thus  appar- 
ently left  to  himself,  for  when  one  is  left  to  his  selfhood,  and 
seemingly  uninfluenced  or  assisted,  he  displays  his  greatest 
strength  of  character,  and  in  the  most  signal  manner  exercises 
his  freedom.  The  Lord  in  this,  the  most  critical  of  all  moments, 
bore  up  against  the  evil,  endured  their  bitter  revilings,  and  allowed 
them  to  crucify  him.  Now  at  this  time  if  he  had  but  for  a  mo- 
ment breathed  a  wish  that  this  should  not  have  been,  he  could, 
as  he  himself  says,  ave  had  twelve  legions  of  angels,  and  the 
guard,  the  rabble,  the  Jews,  and  the  cross  would  have  been  scat- 
tered as  if  by  »  Avhirlwind.  But  if  this  had  been  done  the  evil 
w^uld  not  have  been  conquered,  the  Lord  would  not  have  re- 


144  THE   ATONEMENT   OR   EECONCILIATION. 

sisted  the  temptation,  and  all  -would  have  been  lost.  No  ;  freely 
he  drank  the  bitter  cup,  and  suffered  more  than  man  can  ever 
endure,  and  set  a  memorable  example  that  all  might  follow  his 
footsteps. 

It  was  bis  humanity  or  human  nature  which  endured  upon  the 
cross,  yet  still  it  was  upheld  by  his  divine  essence  Avhich  never 
was  more  present  than  when  apparently  absent.  This  humanity, 
which  was  from  the  mother,  did  not  permanently  become  divine 
until  after  the  crucifixion ;  then  it  was  glorified  and  made  imperish- 
able. The  Lord  informs  his  disciples  that  "  he  that  seeth  me 
seeth  the  Father."  By  this  was  given  them  to  understand  that 
within  his  body  was  the  Father  or  essence. 

AYhen  the  sufferings  of  the  Saviour  are  considered,  it  would 
appear  as  if  they  were  different  from  those  experienced  by  others; 
and  that  it  is  irrational  to  affirm  that  any  thing  could  suffer  unless 
it  does  wholly  so.  It  would  appear  that  if  there  was  any  thing  or 
essence  contained  within  the  living  body  that  did  not  experience 
the  general  pain,  that  it  was  not  an  essential  part  of  the  body. 
Though  this  is  seemingly  the  truth,  yet  we  have  a  denial  of  it  in 
our  own  experience  and  person.  Thus,  when  a  man  is  in  agony, 
all  parts,  even  every  fibre  and  principle,  appear  to  suffer;  inform 
that  person  there  was  a  part  of  him  that  did  not  participate  in 
the  general  pain,  and  he  would  deny  it  as  the  most  false  of  asser- 
tions. Yet  it  is  true  there  is  a  part  Avhich  does  not  suffer  while 
he  is  enduring  the  most  severe  pain,  and  this  is  the  Spirit  of  God 
within  him,  and  without  which  he  could  not  for  a  moment  exist. 
Now  in  reference  to  the  Lord,  the  circumstances  which  attend 
every  man's  suft'erings  are  applicable  to  him,  and  it  is  as  rational 
to  say  that  he  suffered  upon  the  cross,  as  to  affirm  that  man  suf- 
fers when  in  agony  and  pain.  It  is  true  that  the  spirit  or  essence 
which  upheld  the  Saviour  did  not  suffer,  yet  the  Saviour  and  the 
thieves  endured  as  much  as  if  this  spirit  did  suffer,  /b?-  to  them  at 
the  time  it  was  as  if  there  Avas  no  such  spirit.  There  are  those 
who  assert  that  if  the  Lord  had  two  natures  he  did  not  suffer, 
and  all  was  a  delusion  ;  but  this  view  we  think  shoAvs  the  con- 
trary, and  it  can  be  with  as  much  consistency  said,  that  man  is 
two  different  persons  Avhen  suffering  under  his  cross,  as  to  affirm 
that  God  our  Saviour  w;  s  when  in  a  like  situation.  If  the  Lord's 
human  nature  and  body  Avhich  endured  upon  the  cross,  had  not 


THE    FORSAKING    ON    THE    CROSS.  145 

accomplished  what  it  effected,  the  dinne  essence,  even  the  uni- 
verse, could  not  have  existed.  That  human  nature  and  body 
now  (wholly  unlike  any  other)  exists  in  a  glorified  state  in  the 
heavens,  and  within  it  is  the  divine  essence  or  spirit,  and  which 
together  constitute  the  great  Being. 

When  the  double  nature  of  the  mind  of  the  Christian  is  ex- 
amined, it  is  perceived  that  the  one  is  distinctly  good  and  the 
other  evil ;  when  the  evil  is  subdued  or  rests  quiescent,  and  the 
mind  is  filled  with  the  spirit  of  goodness  or  God,  the  Christian  is 
one  with  the  Father,  or  as  the  evangelist  informs  us,  the  Father 
is  in  him  and  he  in  the  Father.     Now  the  chief  difference  be- 
tween the  Spirit  of  God  when  it  has  taken  up  its  abode  in  man, 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  when  it  took  up  its  abode  in  its  human  na- 
ture or  Christ  is,  that  when  in  this  situation  the  regenerate  man 
is  one  with  God  in  a  collective  sense,  that  is,  in  the  sense  which 
would  be  true  of  one  who  belonged  to  a  corporate  body,  and 
whose  interests  as  a  member  were  inseparably  linked  and  joined 
to  it.     But  it  was  not  thus  with  the  Lord,  for  when  the  Spirit  of 
God  had  taken  up  its  abode  Avith  its  human  nature,  and  by  the 
resistance  of  temptations  been  conjoined  to  it,  the  human  nature 
did  not  belong  to  it  in  a  collective  sense,  but  losing  its  own  iden- 
tity, became  for  the  time  the  Spirit  itself ;  and  those  that  saw  the 
Saviour  when  enacting  miracles,  or  in  a  state  of  deification,  saw, 
as  far  as  it  was  possible  to  see,  the  great  Father  and  Creator. 
And  when  in  this  state  the  Lord's  human  nature  disappeared, 
and  he  wrought  from  his  divine  principle,  yet,  as  Ave  have  before 
observed,  when  enduring  temptations,  this  state  of  glorification  or 
conjoinment  wnth  his  divine  nature  did  not  remain,  and  he  relapsed 
back  into  his  human  nature,  and  Avas  seemingly  the  mere  son  of 
Mary.     The  Christian  has  also  the  same  state  of  glorification  and 
humiliation,  for  Avhen  he  is  in  a  state  of  glorification  or  peace,  he 
is  one  Avith  God,  and  has  no  need  AA-ith  his  voice  to  ascribe  any 
thino-  to  the  Deity,  it  being  written  upon  his  heart.     But  it  is  not 
thus  during  his  state  of  humiliation  and  temptation,  and  Avhen  his 
evil  nature  is  aroused,  then  he  cries,  as  did  another,  "  Why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me?"     In  this  state  the  Spirit  of  God  appears  ab- 
sent, and  man  acts  as  of  himself;  but  Avhen  the  temptation  is 
over,  and  the  evil  quiescent,  then  man  is  again  one  Avith  God, 
and  acts  seemingly  not  as  of  himself    He  acts  thus  for  the  reason 

10 


146  THE   ATONEifENT   OR   RECONCILIATION. 

that  the  Spirit  of  God  so  fills  his  mmd  that  he  has  poAver  to  resist 
all  evil  and  temptation,  and  resist  without  an  effort,  it  having  be- 
come a  second  nature ;  and  when  this  is  the  case,  then  he  is  one 
with  the  Deity,  and  composes  a  part  of  his  grand  corporate  and 
spiritual  body — a  body  in  which  the  Being  who. appeared  on  earth 
is  alone  its  mighty  Head  and  Ruler. 

As  a  belief  concerning  the  incarnation  of  the  Deity,  of  his 
clothing  himself  in  a  human  form  an:!  coming  into  tliis  world,  is, 
if  of  anv,  a  subject  of  the  utmost  importance ;  it  is  hoped  that 
we  shall  not  tire  the  reader  if  he  now  accompany  us  into  an  ex- 
amination for  the  purpose  of  seeing  how  far  the  Scriptures  concur 
with  Avhat  has  been  said ;  and  with  the  design  of  exhibiting 
clearly  the  Scripture  proof  on  this  subject,  we  shall  arrange  what 
is  brought  forward  in  the  following  manner:  showing  (l)  That 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  is  Jehovah.  (2)  That  he, 
while  sojourning  upon  this  earth,  endured  the  most  severe  of 
temptations,  and  which  were  chiefly  of  a  mental  or  spiritual  na- 
ture ;  temptations,  in  the  resistance  of  which,  as  man  resists  the 
temptations  of  his  evil  nature,  consisted  the  work  of  redemption. 
(3)  That  there  is  to  be  found  in  the  Sacred  Writings  a  narration 
of  the  glorification  or  deification  of  the  Lord's  human  nature,  and 
the  making  it  one  and  the  same  with  his  divine.  (4)  That  the 
Scriptures  repeatedly  mention  that  man's  regenei-ation  is  an  image 
of  the  Lord's  glorification.  (5)  That  the  writings  of  the  apostles 
give  us  a  brief  and  concise  statement  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
Lord  became  a  Redeemer,  and  reconciled  his  human  nature  or 
the  world  to  himself,  and  which  corresponds  with  what  has  been 
said  on  the  subject. 

We  will  now  examine  our  first  proposition,  aiz.  :  That  the 
author  of  Christianity,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  Jehovah.  That 
such  is  a  truth  of  the  last  importance,  and  that  the  great  Being 
descended  and  took  upon  himself  man's  nature,  is  evident  from 
the  following  citation  :  "  Behold  a  vh-gin  shall  conceive  and  bring 
forth  a  Son,  who  shall  be  called  Godu'ith  us." — Is.  vii.  14  ;  Matt, 
i.  22,  23.  "To  us  a  child  is  bora,  to  us  a  son  is  given,  upon 
whose  shoulder  shall  be  the  government,  and  his  name  shall  be 
called  Wonderful,  God,  Hero,  Father  of  eterxity,  the  Prince 
of  Peace." — Is.  ix.  6.     "It  shall  be  said  in  that  day,  Lo,  this  is 


JESUS   CHRIST   THE   TKUE   JEHOVAH.  147 

our  God,  whom  we  have  expected  to  deliver  us  ;  this  is  Jehovah 
whom  we  have  expected :  let  us  exult  and  rejoice  in  his  salva- 
tion."— Is.  XXV.  9.  "  The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness, 
Prepare  a  way  for  Jehovah,  make  smooth  in  the  desert  a  path 
for  our  God,  and  all  flesh  shall  see  together." — Is.  xl.  3,  5. 
"  Behold,  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  coming  in  the  mighty  one,  and  his 
arm  shall  rule  for  him ;  behold,  his  reward  is  with  him,  and  he 
shall  feed  his  flock  like  a  Shepherd." — Is.  xl.  10, 11.  "Jehovah 
said,  Sing  and  rejoice,  0  daughter  of  Zion ;  behold,  I  am  coming 
to  dwell  in  the  midst  of  thee  ;  then  many  nations  shall  cleave  to 
Jehovah  in  that  day." — Zech.  ii.  14,  15.  "I,  Jehovah,  have 
called  thee  in  righteousness,  and  I  will  give  thee  for  a  covenant 
of  the  people ;  I  am  Jehovah  ;  this  is  my  name,  and  my  glory 
I  WILL  NOT  give  TO  ANOTHER." — Is.  xlii.  6-8.  See  also  Jer.  xxiii, 
5,  6  ;  xxxiii.  15,  16.  Is.  xiii.  6,  9,  13,  22.  Ezek.  xxxi.  25.  Joel 
i.  15  ;  ii.  1,  2,  11  ;  iii.  24  ;  iv.  1,  4,  18.  Amos  v.  13,  18,  20. 
Zeph.  i.  7-18.     Zech.  xiv.  1,  4-21. 

That  Jehovah  descended  and  assumed  the  human  is  also  evi- 
dent from  what  is  said  in  Luke,  where  are  to  be  found  these 
words  :  "  Mary  said  to  the  angel,  How  shall  this  be  done,  since  I 
know  not  a  man  ?  To  Avhom  the  angel  rephed.  The  Holy  Spirit 
shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  virtue  of  the  Most  High  shall  over- 
shadow thee ;  whence  the  holy  thing  that  is  born  of  thee  shall 
be  called  the  Son  of  God."— i.  34,  35.  And  in  Matthew,  "  The 
angel  said  to  Joseph  in  a  dream.  That  which  is  born  in  her  is  of 
the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  Joseph  knew  her  not  until  she  brought 
forth  a  son,  and  called  his  name  Jesus." — i.  20,  25. 

There  are  some  who  believe  that  a  son  bom  from  eternity  de- 
scended and  assumed  the  human,  but  this  is  altogether  an  errone- 
ous and  false  conclusion;  and  one  which,  if  true,  would  be  con- 
clusive evidence  that  there  are  two  Gods.  That  there  was  no 
being  created  or  known  as  the  Sa\iour  until  the  advent  of  Jeho- 
vah, is  CAndent  from  the  following  :  "  Am  not  I  Jehovah  ?  and 
there  is  no  God  else  besides  me  ;  a  just  God  mid  a  Saviour  there 
is  not  besides  me" — Is.  xlv.  21.  22.  "  I  am  Jehovah,  and  be- 
sides me  there  is  no  Saviour." — Is.  xliii.  11.  "I  am  Jehovah  thy 
God,  and  thou  shalt  not  acknowledge  a  God  besides  me ;  there 
is  no  Saviour  besides  me."— Hosea  xiii.  4.  "  That  all  flesh  may 
know  that  I,  Jehovah,  am  thy  Saviour  and  thy  Redeemer." — 


148  TITE    ATONEMENT   OR   RECONCILIATION. 

Isaiah  xlix.  26;  Ix.  16.  "As  for  our  Redeemer,  Jehovah  of 
Hosts  is  his  name." — xlvii.  4.  "  Their  Redeemer  is  mighty  ; 
Jehovah  of  Hosts  is  his  name."— Jew  i.  3i.  "  Thus  said  Jehovah 
the  King  of  Israel,  and  his  Redeemer,  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  I  am  the 
First  and  the  Last,  and  besides  me  there  is  no  God." — Is.  xliv.  6. 
"  Thou,  Jehovah,  art  our  Father,  our  Redeemer  from  eternity  is 
thy  name." — Is.  Ixiii.  16.  "Jehovah,  God,  and  thy  Redeemer, 
the  Holy  One  of  Israel ;  the  God  of  the  i.vhole  earth  shall  he  be 
called." — Is.  liv.  5. 

The  apostles  continually  make  mention  of  the  Saviour  as  the 
God  of  the  Universe.  Thus  St.  John  informs  us  that  "  in  the 
heciiinino-  Avas  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God."  In  v.  14  it  is  added,  "  the  Word  (or  God)  was 
made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us."  We  find  in  the  first  Epistle  of 
Paul  to  Timothy  the  following:  "And  without  controversy  great 
is  tlie  mystery  of  godliness  ;  God  w^as  manifested  in  the  flesh, 
justified  in  the  Spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles, 
believed  on  in  the  Avorld,  received  up  into  glory." — 1  Tim.  iii.  16. 
In  Col.  i.  9  it  is  written,  "For  in  him  (Jesus  Christ)  dwelleth  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."  Paul,  in  Tim.  vi.  14,  says: 
"  Keep  thou  this  commandment  without  spot  unrebukable,  until 
the  appearing  of  our  Lord  Jesus  CIn'ist,  which  in  his  time  he 
shall  show  ivho  is  the  blessed  and  only  potentate,  the  King  of 
kint^s  and  Lord  of  lords."  St.  James  calls  the  Saviour  the  Kinof 
of  glory. — (Eph.  i.)  St.  John  informs  us,  "  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  trae  God  and  eternal  life."  Thomas,  after  the  Saviour  had 
risen  from  the  place  of  sepulture,  affirmed  that  the  Being  whom 
he  saw  before  him  was  his  Lord  and  God. 

Omnipotence  is  directly  ascribed  to  the  Saviour.  Thus,  in 
John :  "  By  him  all  things  were  made,  and  without  him  was  not 
even  one  thing  made  which  hath  been  made."  Paul  says,  "  For 
by  him  were  all  things  created  that  are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in 
earth,  visible  and  invisible  ;  whether  they  be  thrones,  or  dominions, 
or  principalities,  or  powers,  all  things  were  created  b}-  liim  and 
for  him." — Col.  i.  16.  In  Matthew  xxviii.,  it  is  said,  "And  Jesus 
came  and  spake  unto  them,  saying.  All  power  is  given  unto  me 
in  heaven  and  on  earth."  Immutability  is  also  ascribed  to  the 
Saviour,  and  he  is  alluded  to  in  tlie  same  manner  as  we  would 
mention  the  Deity.     Thus  in  Heb.  xii.  8,  "Jesus  Christ,  the  same 


SCRII'TUEE   TESTIMONY.  149 

yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever^  That  the  Saviour  was  considered 
by  the  Jews  to  declare  that  he  was  the  great  Being,  is  rendered 
evident  from  this  passage  :  "  For  good  works  we  stone  thee  not, 
but  because  being  a  man  thou  makest  th^-self  God." 

The  Saviour  repeatedh-  informs  us  that  he  is  the  great  Being. 
Thus  in  John  xiv.  9,  his  disciple  Phihp  wisliing  to  know  concern- 
ing this  subject,  "  said  unto  him,  Show  us  the  Father  and  it  suffi- 
cetk  us.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Have  I  been  so  long  a  time  with 
you,  and  yet  thou  hast  not  known  me,  Philip?  Jle  that  hath 
seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father."  And  again,  in  chap.  x.  30,  he 
says,  in  answer  to  a  like  inquiry,  "  I  and  the  Father  are  one." 
"  Before  Abraham  Avas,  I  am."^John  vii.  53.  "  I  am  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega,  the  First  and  Last,  the  Almighty." — Rev.  xxv.  6. 
The  Saviour  also  evinced  that  he  was  the  Deity,  by  exhibiting 
himself  to  his  disciple  in  the  spiritual  world ;  thus  it  is  said,  that 
when  John  was  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day,  he  heard  behind 
him  a  great  voice  as  of  a  trumpet,  saying,  I  am  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  First  and  the  Last.  John  turning  to  see  from 
whence  the  voice  came,  he  beheld  one  like  unto  the  Son  of  man. 

That  the  Saviour  is  the  only  God,  is  also  shown  from  the  rea- 
son that  in  the  heavens  he  is  an  object  of  angelic  worship.  Thus 
in  Rev.  iv.  10,  we  read  that  "the  four  and  twenty  elders  fell 
down  and  worshipped  Him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  and  cast 
their  crowns  before  the  throne,  saying.  Thou  art  worthy,  0  Lord,  to 
receive  glory,  and  honor,  and  power ;  for  thou  hast  created  all 
things,  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are  and  were  created."  In  an- 
other chapter  it  is  said  that  the  voice  of  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand  angels  was  heard,  saying,  "Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength, 
and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing." — Rev.  v.  IL 

From  what  has  been''  adduced,  it  can  be  seen  that  if  we  can 
believe  the  testimony  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  it  has 
been  conclusively  shown  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  Jehovah  ; 
that  he  and  the  Father  are  one ;  that  he  who  seeth  him  seeth 
the  Father ;  that  in  him  dwelleth  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily ;  that  he  is  the  God  who  was  manifested  in  the  flesh ;  the 
Father  and  Redeemer;  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate;  the 
King  of  kings  and  the  Lord  of  lords  ;  the  sole  and  only  object 
of  angelic  worship  in  the  heavens. 


Ijo  the  atonement  ok  reconciliation. 

n.  That  the  Saviour  while  sojourning  on  this  earth  endured 
the  most  severe  of  temptations,  and  which  were  chiefly  of  a  mcu- 
tal  or  spiritual  nature — temptations,  in  the  resistance  of  which,  as 
man  resists  the  temptations  of  his  evil  nature,  consisted  the  work 
of  redemption. 

In  reference  to  the  above,  and  concerning  the  temptations 
which  the  Lord  endured,  we  find  the  following  in  Luke  iv.  1-13  : 
"And  Jesus  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  returned  from  Jordan 
and  was  led  by  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness,  being  forty  days 
tempted  of  the  devil.  And  in  those  days  he  did  eat  nothing ; 
and  when  they  were  ended,  he  afterwards  hungered.  And  the 
devil  said  unto  him  (or  evil  thoughts  suggested  to  him).  If  thou  be 
the  Son  of  God,  command  this  stone  that  it  be  made  bread. 
And  Jesus  answered  him,  saying.  It  is  written  that  man  shall 
not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  of  God.  And  the 
devil  (or  evil  spirits)  taking  him  up  into  a  high  mountain,  showed 
imto  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  in  a  moment  of  time. 
And  the  devil  said  unto  him,  All  this  power  will  I  give  thee,  and 
the  glory  of  them ;  for  that  is  delivered  unto  me,  and  to  whom- 
soever I  will  I  give  it :  if  thou,  therefore,  wilt  worship  me,  all 
shall  be  thine.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan  :  for  it  is  written.  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord 
thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve.  And  he  brought  him 
to  Jerusalem  and  set  him  on  a  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and  said 
unto  him.  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  cast  thyself  down  from 
hence ;  for  it  is  written,  He  shall  give  his  angels  charge  over 
thee  to  keep  thee,  and  in  their  hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up, 
lest  at  any  time  thou  dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone.  And  Jesus 
answering  said  unto  him.  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God. 
And  when  the  devil  had  ended  all  the  temptation,  he  departed 
from  him  for  a  season.'''' 

Again  in  Mark :  "  And  he  was  there  in  the  wilderness  forty 
days  tempted  of  Satan,  and  was  with  the  wild  beasts,  and  (dur- 
ing his  sufferings)  the  angels  ministered  unto  him."  St.  Luke 
also  informs  us,  that  again,  when  at  the  Mount  of  Olives,  he  en- 
dured the  visitation  of  evil  spirits  or  thoughts,  the  temptation 
was  so  great,  "  that  being  in  agony,  he  prayed  more  earnestly, 
and  his  sweat  was  as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  to 
the  ground"  (xiii.)   In  the  same  chapter  our  SaAaour  says  (making 


THE   LORD   RESISTED   TEMPTATIONS.  151 

mention  of  his  spiritual  temptation  and  trial),  "  Ye  are  they  which 
have  continued  with  me  in  my  temptations."     See  also  Matthew. 

From  the  above  it  can  be  seen  that  the  Saviour  suffered  re- 
peatetlly  from  temptations.  It  is  also  given  us  to  understand 
that  bhey  were  resisted.  Now  the  Saviour  could  not  have  suf- 
fered in  the  hour  of  trial,  Avithout  he  was  capable  of  being 
tempted ;  and  the  resistance  of  the  wiles  of  the  tempter  must 
have  been  effected  only  by  the  greatest  effort.  That  they  Avere 
only  thus  endured,  is  evinced  from  his  sufferings  in  the  desert, 
when  it  is  said  that  angels  came  and  ministered  unto  him ;  and 
also  at  Gethsemane,  when,  it  is  written,  "his  soul  was  exceed- 
ingly sorrowful,  even  unto  death."  Now  if  the  Saviour  endured 
these  spiritual  temptations — temptations  which  would  have  wholly 
overcome  any  other  being — he  must,  at  the  same  time,  have  sub- 
dued the  evil  spirits  from  which  the  temptation  proceeded.  That 
such  was  the  case  is  evinced  from  the  fact  that  before  the  Lord 
came,  neither  the  disciples  nor  others  could  cast  out  devils ;  and 
it  was  only  as  the  Saviour  resisted  temptation  and  intiuences  from 
the  hidden  world,  that  the  seventy  were  enabled  to  act.  In  ref- 
erence to  this  Scripture  fact,  it  is  stated  in  Matthew,  that  after 
the  seventy  had  returned  they  said,  "  Lord,  even  tlie  devils  are 
subject  unto  us  through  thy  name."  Then  it  is  affirmed  that  the 
Lord  replied  that  he  beheld  (at  hearing  the  glad  tidings)  "  Satan 
as  liglitning  fall  from  heaven."*  This  reply  cannot  be  consid- 
ered otherwise  than  as  informing  his  disciples  that  the  power  of 
truth  had,  by  the  means  of  his  superhuman  exertions,  so  pre- 
vailed in  the  spiritual  world,  that  the  myriads  of  evil  spirits  had 
withdrawn  or  fell  from  the  heavens  which  they  infested.  In  sev- 
eral other  places  the  Saviour  makes  the  same  observations  as  the 
great  work  of  redemption  progressed.  Thus  in  John  xii.  31: 
"  Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world ;  now  is  the  prince  of  this 
world  cast  out."  Again  in  chap.  xvii.  33 :  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  I 
have  overcome  the  world."  As  the  Saviour  did  not  overcome  any 
prince  or  kingdom  of  this  world,  it  is  evident  that  if  he  overcame 
any,  it  was  the  prince  and  kingdom  of  the  powers  of  darkness. 

In  reference  to  this  subject  it  is  said  in  Luke,  "  If  I  Avith  the 
finger  of  God  cast  out  devils,  no  doubt  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
come  upon   you"  (ii.  19).     Mention   of  the   Lord's  casting  out 
*  Luke  X.  18. 


152  THE   ATONEMENT    OR    RECONCILIATION, 

devils  is  repeatedly  made  in  other  places.  IS'ow  if  he  did  cast 
out  devils  from  the  minds  and  persons  of  those  possessed,  he 
must  necessarily  have  restrained  and  subjugated  them  in  the 
spiritual  world  from  whence  they  proceeded.  The  mere  fact 
that  the  Lord  makes  use  of  the  argument  and  says,  that,  "  if  I 
with  the  finger  of  God  cast  out  devils,  no  doubt  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  upon  you,"  is  of  itself  sufficient  proof  that  the  evil  in- 
fluences, or  the  Avorks  of  the  devil,  were  the  cause  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  not  coming,  and  when  this  evil  influence  was  re- 
moved, the  kingdom  of  God,  or  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion, 
would  be  enabled  to  manifest  itself. 

That  such  was  the  case,  and  that  God  our  Saviour  when  in 
this  world  subjugated  the  evil  spirits  in  the  hidden  world,  and 
prevented  them  from  influencing  the  minds  of  mankind  as  they 
had  done  before  his  advent,  is  an  historical  fact,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing more  plainly  authenticated.  Let  us  first  inquire  what  was 
the  state  of  religion  and  morality  before  his  appearance.  It  was, 
as  history  informs  us,  a  state  of  darkness  and  barbarism.  The 
majority  worshipped  idols  and  sacrificed  to  devils.  The  Jews 
also  were  an  external  and  evil  nation.  Now  it  is  known  that 
after  the  Lord's  crucifixion  and  ascension,  the  evil  influences 
which  infested  the  minds  of  mankind  wei-e  for  some  reason  dis- 
pelled ;  so  much  so,  that  the  truths  of  the  Christian  religion 
could  be  taught,  and  its  benignant  influence  began  to  be  felt  on 
all  sides.  If  these  evil  influences  were  dispelled,  they  must  have 
disappeared  from  some  cause ;  and  Avhat  possible  cause  could 
have  produced  it  but  that  which  the  Scriptures  afiirm,  viz.,  that 
the  prince  of  the  world  of  darkness  was  overcome  ?  None  will 
assert  to  the  contrary,  except  those  who  disbelieve  in  the  agency 
of  evil  spirits,  and  who  deny  that  at  the  time  the  Saviour  came 
into  the  world  they  exercised  in  an  astonishing  manner  their  ma- 
lignant influence. 

If  we  turn  to  the  Old  Testament  for  proof  in  regard  to  this 
subject,  we  find  passage  after  passage  describing  the  spiritual 
combat  between  the  Lord  and  the  spirits  of  evil.  Thus  :  "  Who 
is  this  that  comethfrom  Edom,  sprinkled  as  to  his  garments  from 
Bozrah,  who  is  honorable  in  his  apjmrel  marching  in  the  viulti- 
tude  of  his  strength  ?  I  loho  speak  in  righteousness,  great  to  save. 
Wherefore  art  thou  red  as  to  thy  garment,  and  thy  garment  as  of 


SCKIPTUEE   TESTIMONY.  153 

one  treading  in  the  wine-jyress  ?  I  have  trodden  the  ivine-press 
alone,  and  of  the  j^coj^le  not  a  man  loith  me ;  therefore  I  trod 
them  in  my  anger,  and  trampled  them  in  my  lorath  ;  thence  their 
victory  teas  sprinkled  upon  my  garments  ;  for  the  day  of  ven- 
geance is  in  my  heart,  and  the  year  of  my  redeemed  is  come  ;  my 
arm  brought  salvation  to  me ;  I  made  their  victory  descend  to 
the  earth.  He  said,  Behold  my  jyeople,  they  are  children,  there- 
fore he  became  to  them  for  a  Saviour  ;  for  his  love  and  for  his 
pity  he  redeemed  them.'' — Is.  Ixiii.  1-9. 

It  can  be  seen  in  the  above,  that  the  prophet  Isaiah  has  in  the 
most  eloquent  and  sublime  language  delineated  the  spiritual  con- 
test, or  the  resistance  of  temptiitions  which  the  Lord  endured 
while  sojourning  on  this  earth.  The  passage  must  have  reference 
to  this  subject,  and  no  other ;  for  the  reason  that  it  is  said  that 
one  person  alone  should  effect  the  victory.  It  is  also  stated  that 
the  spiritiml  victory  should  descend  to  the  earth,  and  that  the 
being  who  should  achieve  it  was  the  Savaour.  But  let  us  give 
Swedenborg's  interpretation  of  the  sense  of  this  passage.  He 
informs  us,  "  that  these  words  are  said  concerning  the  (spiritual) 
battle  of  the  Lord  against  the  hells ;  by  the  garment  in  ivhich  he 
was  honorable,  and  which  was  red,  is  designated  the  Word  to 
which  violence  Avas  offered  by  the  Jewish  people.  The  battle 
itself  against  the  hells  and  the  victory  over  them,  is  described  by 
this :  that  he  trod  them  in  his  anger  and  tramptled  them  in  his 
wrath.  That  he  fought  alone  and  from  his  own  power,  is  de- 
scribed by  these  words :  Of  the  people  not  a  man  xrnth  me  ;  my 
arm  brought  salvation  to  me  ;  I  made  their  victory  descend  to  the 
earth.  That  thereby  he  saved  and  redeemed,  by  these :  There- 
fore he  became  to  them  for  a  Saviour  ;  for  his  love  and  for  his 
pity  he  redeemed  them.  That  this  was  the  cause  of  his  comino-, 
is  designated  by  these :  The  day  of  vengeance  is  in  my  heart, 
and  the  year  of  my  redeemed  is  come." 

Again  in  Isaiah  :  "He  saw  that  there  was  not  any  one,  and  was 
astonished  that  there  was  none  interceding ;  therefore  his  arm 
brought  salvation  to  him,  and  righteousness  roused  him  up>  ; 
thence  he  put  on  righteousness  as  a  breast-plate,  and  the  helmet  of 
salvation  upon  his  head,  and  he  put  on  garments  of  vengeance, 
and  covered  himself  with  zeal  as  with  a  cloak  ;  then  he  came  to 
Zion  a  Redeemer." — Chap.  lix.  16,  17,  20.    In  .Jeremiah  :  "  Thev 


154  THE    ATONEMENT   OR   EECONCILIATION. 

were  dismayed,  their  strong  ones  were  knocked  down ;  they  fled 
apace,  neither  did  they  look  back ;  that  day  is  to  the  Lord  Jeho- 
vah of  hosts  a  day  of  revenge,  that  he  may  take  vengeance  on 
his  enemies,  that  the  sword  may  devour  and  be  satiated." — Chap, 
xlvi.  5,  10.  The  latter  and  the  former  are  concerning  the  battle 
of  the  Lord  against  the  hells,  and  concerning  the  victory  over 
them.  In  David:  " Gird  thy  sicord  upon  thy  thigh,  0  Miyhty ; 
thy  arrows  are  sharp,  the  people  shall  fall  under  thee  ;  from  the 
heart  enemies  of  the  King.  Thy  thione  is  for  an  age  and  forever. 
Thou  hast  loved  righteousness,  therefore  God  hath  anointed  thee." 
— Psalm  xiv.  4-7  ;  besides  in  many  other  places.  Since  the 
Lord  alone  conquered  the  hells,  he  is  called  a  Hero  and  a  Man 
OF  WARS. — Isaiah  xHv.  15  ;  ix.  6.  The  King  of  glory,  Jehovah 
THE  Mighty,  the  Hero  of  avar. — Ps.  xiv.  8,  10.  The  Mighty 
One  of  Jacob. — Ps.  cxxxii.  2. 

In  reference  to  the  bodily  sufferings  which  the  Saviour  endured 
on  the  cross,  it  is  supposed  by  some  that  they  constituted  what 
is  known  as  the  atonement,  and  composed  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion ;  but  it  is  evident  that  this  is  a  great  fallacy ;  for  if  those 
suil'erings  alone  produced  the  reconciliation,  then  the  previous 
labors  of  the  Saviour  amounted  to  nothing,  and  could  have  been 
omitted.  The  bodily  sufferings  experienced  by  the  Saviour  on 
the  cross  were  undoubtedly  of  a  painful  nature ;  but  they  Avere 
probably  less  painful  than  those  which  were  experienced  by  many 
of  the  martyrs,  multitudes  of  whom  suffered  death  in  the  most 
agonizing  manner ;  some  having  been  roasted  by  a  slow  fii-e, 
others  were  dislocated  on  the  rack,  or  in  a  gradual  manner  had 
their  flesh  torn  from  them  with  red-hot  pincers.  Yet  these  mar- 
tyrs sustained  their  dreadful  sufferings  without  uttering  a  com- 
plaint, and  died  without  a  groan.  But  it  was  not  thus  with  the 
Saviour ;  for  he  uttered  complaints  on  the  cross  and  at  other 
places.  Now  from  whence  sprang  those  complaints  ?  Did  they 
arise  from  the  want  of  fortitude  ?  This  could  not  have  been,  for 
we  know  that  no  martyr  or  any  other  person  possessed  fortitude 
in  an  equal  degree  ;  and  if  so,  then  the  inference  is  undeniable, 
that  those  complaints  had  but  little  reference  to  his  bodily  sufter- 
ings,  but  were  of  a  mental  and  spiritual  nature — sufferings  which 
were  produced  by  temptations  and  conflicts  with  the  powers  of 
darkness. 


THE  lord's  glorification.  156 

That  this  was  the  case  is  also  evinced  from  the  temptations 
which  were  endured  in  the  wilderness,  and  Avhen  it  is  said  that 
angels  were  sent  to  visit  him.  As  on  this,  and  many  other  occa- 
sions, he  received  no  bodily  injury,  the  grief  must  have  originated 
from  the  endurance  of  the  wiles  of  the  tempter.  We  have  also 
the  direct  authority  of  the  Scriptures  to  believe  that  his  sufterings 
were  of  a  spiritual  nature.  Thus,  a  short  time  before  the  tempta- 
tion in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  the  Saviour  especially  directed 
his  disciples,  notwithstanding  their  frailties,  "  not  to  fear  them 
who  could  kill  the  body,  and  after  that  could  do  no  more."  As 
the  Saviour  after  this  command  did  himself  utter  complaints, 
hence  it  is  endent  these  complaints  had  not  reference  to  those 
who  could  kill  the  body,  but  to  those  who  could  kill  the  soul, 
and  who  caused  his  spiritual  grief.  This  must  have  been  the 
case  unless  it  can  be  shown,  which  is  impossible,  that  the  Lord's 
conduct  on  this  occasion  was  not  in  exact  accordance  Avith  his  own 
precept.  Other  Scripture  evidence  on  this  subject  might  be  ad- 
duced, particularly  the  22d,  40th,  69th,  and  88th  Psalms ;  but 
we  do  not  deem  it  necessary,  sufficient  haAing  been  said  to  evince 
the  nature  of  the  Lord's  suftierings,  and  that  by  his  resisting 
temptations  from  the  world  of  evil,  as  man  at  the  present  day  re- 
sists, consisted  the  great  work  of  redemption. 

in.  That  there  is  to  be  found  in  the  Sacred  Writings  a  narra- 
tive of  the  glorification  or  deification  of  the  Lord's  human  nature, 
and  the  making  it  one  and  the  same  with  his  divine. 

On  this  head  it  is  admitted  by  those  who  believe  the  Scrip- 
tures, that  the  Saviour,  when  in  this  world,  had  a  divine  and  hu- 
man nature.  That  the  divine  was  Jehovah,  is  evinced  from  the 
consideration  that  it  is  impossible  that  there  can  be  more  than  one 
God,  and  also  because  the  spirit  which  animated  the  Saviour  was 
not  like  the  Spirit  of  God  which  animates  the  bodies  of  mankind ; 
for  if  it  was,  then  there  would  be  as  many  Gods  as  men.  And 
what  we  now  propose  to  show  is,  first,  that  after  the  conjunction 
of  the  divine  with  the  human  nature,  which  took  place  at  the 
Saviour's  conception  or  birth,  a  gradual  glorification  or  making 
divine  of  the  human  nature  succeeded.  That  this  was  the  case, 
is  evinced,  first,  from  the  reason  that  we  are  informed  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  not  given  to  him  until  this  deification  had  taken 
place  ;  as  in  John  vii.  39,  '•'  But  this  spake  he  of  the  Spirit,  which 


156  THE    ATOIVEMEA"r    OR   KECONCILIATION. 

tliey  that  believe  on  him  should  receive :  for  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
not  yet  given,  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified." 

The  subject  is  also  mentioned  in  John  xii.  28.  The  Lord  on 
this  occasion  informs  his  disciples,  "  the  hour  is  come  xchen  the  Son 
of  man  should  be  glorified ;"  it  is  also  affirmed  that  he  asked  the 
Father  to  glorify  his  name  (or  the  Father's  name),  upon  which  it 
is  said  that  a  voice  came  from  heaven,  saying,  "  I  have  both 
glorified  it,  and  Avill  glorify  (or  deify)  it  again." 

The  further  unition  of  the  Lord's  divine  to  his  human  nature  is 
exhibited  in  the  following  passage :  Jesus  said,  "  Now  is  the  Son 
of  man  glorified,  and  God  is  glorified  in  him.  If  God  be  glori- 
fied in  him,  God  shall  also  glorify  him  in  himself,  and  shall 
straightivay  glorify  him."  The  above  passage,  literally  tran- 
scribed, would  read  thus :  Now  is  the  human  nature  made 
divine  or  glorified,  and  the  divine  nature  is  honored  by  the  uni- 
tion. This  must  be  the  ti-ue  and  only  explanation,  for  in  the 
mere  sense  of  the  letter  it  is  said,  that  God  should  glorify  him- 
self, or  in  other  words,  make  himself  divine.  Now  as  what  is 
divine  does  not  require  to  be  made  so,  hence  it  is  evinced  that 
the  ffloi-ification  had  reference  to  something  which  had  been 
added  to  his  nature,  and  which  did  require  to  be  deified. 

The  unition  of  the  human  to  the  divine  is  also  indicated  by 
many  passages  like  the  following,  thus :  "  That  they  all  may  be 
one,  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee."  That  the  deifica- 
tion of  the  Lord's  human  Avas  finally  completed  and  finished 
after  the  crucifixion,  is  evinced  from  the  fact  that  the  Lord  then 
declared  to  his  disciples  that  "  all  power  was  given  to  him  in 
heaven  and  earth,"  which  was  not  the  case  when  he  was  the 
child  Jesus.  It  is  also  shown  from  the  reason  that  after  his 
ascension  the  Holy  Spirit  was  received,  and  he  bestowed  the  same 
unto  his  disciples,  as  we  find  it  thus  stated  in  John :  "  He 
breathed  on  them,  and  saith  unto  them.  Receive  the  Holy 
Spirit."* 

IV.  That  the  Scriptures  repeatedly  intimate  that  man's  regen- 
eration is  an  image  of  the  Lord's  glorification. 

That  this  is  so,  is  evinced  from  the  words  of  the  Lord  to  his 
disciples.     "  And  Jesus  said  unto  them.  Verily  I  say  unto  you, 

*  John  XX.  22. 


GLORIFICATION    A    PATTEKN    OF    KEGENEKATION.  157 

That  ye  which  have  followed  me  in  the  regeneration,  when  the  Son 
of  man  shall  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory,  ye  shall  also  sit 
upon  twelve  thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel." — Matt. 
xix.  28.  Again,  Jesus  said  unto  his  disciples,  "If  any  man  will 
come  after  me,  let  him  deny  liimself,  and  take  up  his  cross  and 
folloiv  me." — Ch.  xvi.  24.  Again  :  "  My  sheep  hear  my  voice, 
and  I  know  them,  and  they  follow  me ;  and  I  give  unto  them 
eternal  life." — John  x.  27,28.  Again:  "I  am  the  light  of  the 
world :  he  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall 
have  the  light  of  life." — John  viii.  12.  The  Apostle  Peter, 
among  others,  confirms  the  above  :  "  For  even  hereunto  were  ye 
called,  because  Christ  sutfered  for  us,  leaving  us  an  example  that 
we  should  follow  his  steps." — 1  Pet.  ii.  21. 

From  the  above  it  can.be  seen  that  we  are  repeatedly  informed, 
that  those  who  choose  to  be  the  adherents  of  the  great  Redeemer 
must  "take  vip  their  cross  and  follow  him."  It  is  plainly  evident 
that  these  words  have  reference  to  the  crucifixion  of  our  e\il  na- 
ture, or  extei"nal  man,  w  hich,  with  its  world  of  evils,  is  to  be  over- 
come and  cnicified.  The  Saviour,  when  first  the  glorious  light 
dawned  upon  his  human  natm-e,  perceived  that  it  Avas  filled  with 
a  tendency  to  e\\\,  which  required  to  be  reconciled  to  his  divine 
principle ;  and  so  likewise  it  is  with  man  when  first  the  light 
shines  upon  the  darkness  of  his  mind,  for  then  he  perceives  that 
he  has  an  evil  nature,  which  requires  to  be  reconciled  to  the  Spirit 
of  God  dwelhng  within  him.  The  Saviour  reconciled  his  evil  hu- 
man nature,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  informs  us,  by  being  tempted  in 
all  points  as  we  ai'e,  by  the  conquering  and  subjugating  the  world 
of  evil  thoughts  or  spirits  within ;  and  it  is  the  same  with  man, 
for  it  is  only  by  the  like  endurance  of  temptation,  by  conquering 
and  subduing  the  world  of  evil  thoughts  or  spirits  within,  that  he 
can  expect  to  reconcile  his  evil  nature  to  the  indwelling  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Divine,  and  be  one  Avith  him.  When  the  Saviour  had 
endured  the  last  and  great  temptation,  he  gloi'ified  his  human 
nature,  and  made  it  one  with  his  divine.  It  is  like  with  man : 
when  he  endures  his  last  temptation,  and  has  fought  the  good 
fight,  then  he  glorifies  his  human  nature ;  it  is  one  with  the  divine, 
God  dwelling  in  him  and  he  in  God. 

V.  That  the  writings  of  the  apostles  give  us  a  brief  and  concise 
statement  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Lord  became  a  Redeemer, 


168  THE    ATONEMENT    OE    EECONXTLTATION. 

and  reconciled  his  human  nature  or  the  world  to  himself,  and 
which  coincides  -with  Avhat  has  been  said  on  the  subject. 

In  reference  to  the  above,  we  find  the  following  in  2  Cor.  v.  18 : 
"  And  all  things  are  of  God,  Avho  hath  reconciled  us  to  himself 
by  Jesxis  Christ,  and  hath  given  to  us  the  ministry  of  reconcilia- 
tion: to  wit,  that  God  ivas  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto 
himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them,  and  hath  com- 
mitted unto  us  the  word  of  reconciliation." 

Again,  in  Ephesians  ii.  15:  "For  he  (the  Lord)  is  our  peace, 
who  hath  made  both  one,  and  hath  broken  down  the  middle  wall 
of  partition  hetioeen  us  ;  hanng  abolished  in  his  flesh  the  enmity, 
even  the  law  of  commandments  contained  in  ordinances,  for  to 
make  in  himself  of  twain  one  new  man,  so  making  peace  ;  and  that 
he  might  reconcile  both  unto  God  in  one  body  by  the  cross, 
having  slain  the  enmity  thereby." 

Again,  in  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Hebrews,  ii.  14  :  "  Fonis- 
much  then  as  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  he 
(the  Lord)  also  himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same,  that 
through  death  he  might  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death, 
that  is,  the  devil  ;  and  deliver  them  who,  through  fear  of  death, 
were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage.  For  verily  he  took 
not  on  him  the  nature  of  angels,  but  he  took  on  him  the  seed  of 
Abraham.  Wherefore  in  all  things  it  behoved  him  to  be  made 
like  unto  his  brethren,  that  he  might  be  a  merciful  and  faithful 
high  priest  in  things  pertaining  to  God,  to  make  reconciliation  for 
the  sins  of  the  people.  For  in  that  he  himself  hath  suftered, 
being  temjHed,  he  is  able  to  succor  them  that  are  tempted." 

In  the  above  citations,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  explanatioft 
which  has  been  given  cori-esponds  with  the  belief  held  by  the 
apostles.  First,  we  are  told  that  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  to  himself.  This  coincides  with  what  Swedenborg  in- 
forms us,  viz. :  That  the  soul,  or  divine  principle  which  animated 
Jesus,  was  Jehovah,  or  the  Father.  It  is  also  said  that  the  Lord 
"  took  upon  himself  the  nature  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  that 
through  death  he  might  destroy  the  devil,  and  deliver  them  who, 
through  fear  of  death,  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage." 
In  this  passage  we  are  inforaied,  in  the  plainest  language,  that 
God  took  upon  himself  man's  nature,  that  he  might  destroy  or 
restrain  the  influence  which  evil  spirits  or  the  devil  were  exercising 


THE    HUMAN    NATURE    TEMPTED.  159 

upon  the  minds  of  mankind  ;  or,  as  it  is  said,  loose  them  from  the 
bondage  of  the  de\-il.  This  the  Lord  accomphshed,  as  we  have 
before  shown,  by  the  admitting  of  temptations  to  his  human  na- 
ture, and  subduing  them,  thus  glorifying  or  making  himself  or 
human  nature  a  new  man ;  breaking  down  the  wall  of  partition 
which  separated  him  from  his  children,  and  which  prevented  his 
Holy  Spirit  from  ditfusing  its  benignant  influence.*     The  reader 


*  It  is  supposed  by  some  that  the  atonement  or  rcconeiluition  consisted 
not  so  much  in  .ipacJncation  of  God's  wrath,  as  in  a  reconciliation  of  God  to 
himself,  or  of  his  attribute  of  justice  to  that  of  mercy ;  but  this  it  is  plainly 
evident  is  a  fundamental  error,  for  God's  justice  was  never  disconnected  from 
his  love,  they  being  inseparable.  What  a  wise  father  (and  God  is  our 
Father)  does  for  his  children  is  done  solely  for  their  future  welfare,  hence  is 
done  as  much  from  att'ection  as  from  justice. 

A  writer  (Mr.  Law)  thus  shows  the  fallacy  in  believing  that  God  ever  sep- 
arated his  attribute  of  mercy  from  his  justice,  and  which,  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  wish  further  to  examine  this  sul^ject,  we  here  adduce. 

"  God,"  he  informs  us,  "  is  love — pure,  perfect,  and  incorruptible  love  ;  but 
the  carnal  mind,  the  mind  of  every  man  by  nature,  the  mind  which  is  under 
the  dominion  of  his  flesh,  and  makes  this  flesh  his  only  end,  is  corrupted, 
debased,  and  absorbed  with  enmity."  As  he  became  opposite  to  the  love  of 
God,  he  became  possessed  with  enmity ;  being  contrary  to  the  holiness  of 
God,  he  was  filled  with  sin ;  repugnant  to  the  goodness  of  God,  he  was 
seized  with  evil ;  and  cut  off  from  the  life  of  God,  he  inherited  death,  spirit- 
ual, temporal,  and  eternal.  The  divine  natui-e  could  not  be  contaminated 
by,  nor  hold  communion  with,  a  sinful  nature  ;  and  therefore  there  ensued 
a  separation  of  God  from  man,  which,  having  every  dreadful  consequence 
to  the  latter,  is  expressed  by  the  wrath,  abhorrence,  vengeance,  judgment, 
&e.,  of  God — terms  adapted  to  tlie  workings  and  capacities  of  the  human 
mind,  and  used  to  mark  out  its  entire  alienation  (with  the  sad  effects  of  it) 
from  its  Maker.  There  is  no  wrath  inGod  as  wrath,  because  he  is  wholly 
love  ;  but  his  separation  of  man  from  the  partieip.ation  of  his  love,  with  all 
its  various  blessings,  operates  upon  the  human  passions,  now  defiled  with 
enmity,  under  the  notions  and  impressions  of  anger  and  indignation.  Thus 
God's  love,  being  pure  and  unapproachable  by  sin,  becomes  a  most  dreadful 
and  even  horrible  attribute  to  a  sinner,  because,  as  a  sinner,  he  can  never 
come  nigh  to  God,  never  hold  communion  with  him,  nor  receive  delight  or 
blessedness  from  him.  And  if  divine  wisdom  had  not  found  a  method  of  rec- 
onciliation, human  nature  would  and  must  have  sustained  whatever  can  be 
conceived  under  the  awful  idea  of  damnation,  or  the  state  of  absolute  rejec- 
tion from  the  presence  of  God.  By  these  considerations  it  might  appear, 
were  it  necessary  to  extend  them,  that  enmity,  sin,  wrath,  and  niiserv,  with 
other  words  of  the  like  import,  are  all  correlative  terms,  which  only  variously 
express  the  nature  or  ctfects  of  man's  alienation  from  God.  "On  the  other 
hand,  the  word  love  is  also  correlative  and  entirely  connected  with  every 
other  divine  attribute  and  perfection,  or  with  whatever  may  be  called  by 
those  names :  it  has,  and  car.  have,  no  difference  from  thern,  however  dis- 


160  THE    ATONEMENT   OR   RECONCILIATION. 

has  now  before  him  the  principal  Scripture  evidence  in  regard  to 
what  is  known  as  the  atonement,  or  the  reconcihation.  Whether 
the  ilhistration  that  has  been  given  is  satisfactoiy,  is  for  the  reader 
alone  to  judge.  For  ourselves,  we  consider  the  explanation  which 
Swedenborg  gives  as  truth.  We  believe  that  it  is  so,  because 
the  difficulties  under  which  the  subject  has  labored  are  removed, 
and  removed  in  such  manner  as  not  to  injure  the  Scripture  doc- 
trine, but  to  confirm  it ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  giving  the  praise 
to  tlie  great  Father,  and  exhibiting  his  character  and  infinite  love 
for  his  children  in  a  light  never  before  made  known. 

One  great  difficulty  in  reference  to  the  former  manner  of  ex- 
plaining this  subject  is,  that  it  is  virtually  taught  that  the  atone- 
ment was  not  absolutely  necessary,  and  mankind  could  have  as 
well  been  saved  without  a  reconciliation  as  with  it.  Thus  Dr. 
Dwight,  allowing  his  superior  mind  in  respect  to  this  subject  to 
be  darkened  by  the  fallacious  doctrines  of  others,  and  disregard- 
ing those  passages  of  the  Scriptures  wliere  the  Saviour  informs 

tinguished  by  a  merciful  condescension,  for  the  better  comprehension  of  our 
minds.  Eig)iteousness,  for  instance,  is  only  a  name  for  this  love  in  act  and 
exercise  ;  for  the  love  of  God  in  its  energies  does  only  what  is  right  or  right- 
eous. Love  is  the  motive  of  all  his  actions,  according  to  the  Scriinnres ; 
and  by  communicating  this  love,  he  renders  it  the  essential  principle  of  all 
righteous  action  in  man. — John  iii.  16;  1  Cor.  xiii.  4,  &c.  Truth,  purity, 
and  the  like,  are  also  but  love  in  particular  forms,  actions,  or  aspects.  In 
short,  all  the  attributes  and  perfections  of  the  Divine  nature  have  their  es- 
sence in  love,  and  the  term  love  is  but  a  glorious  title  for  the  grand  assem- 
blage of  them,  denominating  (as  the  Bible  hath)  the  first  and  supreme  na- 
ture.—God  is  love,  then  ;  uniting,  as  in  that  one  attribute,  all  the  other  pre- 
dicaments and  glories  of  his  majesty  and  goodness,  not  per  acidcm,  but  in 
essentiality  ;  and  with  respect  to  his  creatures,  there  is  no  grace  nor  act  of 
righteousness  but  what  is  an  emanation  from  the  same  principle,  enlivening, 
invigorating,  and  making  them  happy."  .... 

It  is  added,  that  ''  hence  it  follows  that  in  God  justice  itself  is  only  a  form 
of  love;  to  reconcile,  therefore,  justice  to  love  or  love  to  justice,  is  to  recon- 
cile love  to  itself,  a  reconciliation  which  it  never  needed.  .Justice  and  love, 
therefore,  were  never  separated  in  God,  but  were  always  one ;  and  in  this 
oneness  consists  the  perfection  of  the  divine  nature.  The  atonement,  there- 
fore, wrought  by  Jesus  Christ  was  the  reconciliation,  in  his  own  person,  of 
the  humanity  to  the  Divinity,  by  which  the  humanity  became  one  with  the 
Father,  or  the  Divinity.  This  being  effected,  the  Holy  Spirit  could  descend 
and  nssist  man  in  a  corresponding  work,  the  reconciliation  of  his  humanity 
to  that  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ— a  reconciliation  which  takes  place  by  re- 
nouncing sin,  overcoming  evil,  receiving  the  divine  Igve  and  wisdom  into  our 
nature,  and  thus  being  transformed  into  the  image  of  Christ."— See  Clissold's 
Letter  to  the  Archlislwp  of  Lublin,  p.  28. 


SENTIIMENTS    OF    DR.  DWIGHT.  161 

his  disciples  that  these  things  must  be,  that  it  was  easier  for  the 
heavens  and  earth  to  pass  away  than  that  all  things  should  not 
be  fulfilled,  saj's :  "  I  am  unable  to  discern  how  God  is  so  solemnly 
said  to  be  peculiarly  glorified  by  the  mission  of  Christ,  for,  ac- 
cording to  this  scheme,  he  was  sent  for  no  purpose  which  had 
not  been  accomplished  before,  and  which  might  not,  for  aught 
that  appears,  have  been  accomplished  afterwards  without  his  ap- 
pearance in  the  world."*  Again,  in  another  place,  he  says  :  "To 
God  it  was  certainly  imnecessary  to  announce  the  forgiveness  ©f 
sin ;  to  send  his  Son  to  die,  or  to  give  his  Spirit  and  his  word  to 
sanctify  and  save.  Tliis  immense  preparation  depended  solely  on 
his  mere  pleasure.  He  might  have  suftered  the  law  to  take  its 
course.  He  might  have  annihilated,  or  punished  forever,  the 
w^iole  race  of  Adam,  and  with  a  command  have  raised  up  a  new 
and  better  world  of  beings  instead.  Men  are  in  no  sense  necessary/ 
to  God.  He  might  have  filled  the  universe  with  angels  at  once." 
— (See  Dwight's  Theolocjy,  vol.  ii.,  Ser.  LXIV.,  p.  529.) 

Now  it  is  evident  when  it  is  believed  and  intimated  that  it  was 
unnecessary  that  God  should  announce  to  mankind  the  forgive- 
ness of  sin,  needless  that  the  Son  of  man  should  come  as  a  Sa- 
viovir  and  Redeemer,  or  that  he  should  give  his  Spirit  and  word 
to  sanctify  and  save,  then  the  whole  scheme  of  redemption  falls 
to  the  ground.  For  any  person  who  makes  use  of  his  rational 
powei's  in  reference  to  the  Scriptures,  would  naturally  ask.  If  it 
was  not  necessary,  why  did  it  occur  ?  and  whence  is  it  that  suffer- 
ing was  necessary  to  the  establishment  of  God's  glory  ? 

Such  questions  as  these  cannot  be  answered  unless  the  Scrip- 
ture authority  is  denied,  and  it  is  shown  that  God  is  a  being  of 
injustice  ;  yet  too  often  after  such  a  manner  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
atonement  taught  ;f  and  when  the  sufferings  which  the  Lord  en- 

*   Dwight's  Theology,  Scr.  LV. 

t  In  reference  to  tlie  atonement,  we  find  the  following  in  Buck's  Theolo- 
gical Dictionary:  "The  atonement,"  it  is  said,  "is  the  satisfying  divine 
justice  by  Jesus  Christ,  giving  himself  as  a  ransom  for  us  ;  undergoing  the 
penalty  due  to  our  sins,  and  thereby  releasing  us  from  that  punishment 
which  God  might  justly  inflict  npon  us.  All  mankind  having  broken  the 
law,  God,  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  did  not  think  fit  to  pardon  sinful  man 
WITHOUT  SOME  COMPENSATION  for  liis  broken  law.  For  if  the  great  Ruler  of 
the  world  had  pardoned  the  sins  of  men  without  any  satisfaction,  then  his 
laws  might  have  seemed  not  worth  vindicatingr."  ....  "God  had  a  mind 

11 


162  THK    AT0NE:SIENT   or   EECONCILIATIOK. 

dured  are  mentioned,  they  are  passed  over  as  a  great  mystery  : 
it  being  easy  to  conjecture,  as  has  been  done,  that  if  the  Lord 

to  make  a  very  illustrious  display  both  of  his  justice  and  of  his  grace  among 
mankind ;  on  tliese  accounts  he  could  not  pardon  sin  without  a  satisfac- 
tion." 

We  find  it  stated  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the Church,  published 

in  1838,  "Tliat  Christ,  by  his  obedience  and  death,  did  fully  discharge  the 
debt  of  all  those  who  are  thus  justified;  and  did  make  a  proper,  real,  and 
full  satisfaction  to  his  Father's  justice.  He  was  given  by  the  Father  for 
them,  and  his  obedience  and  satin/actiop,  accepted  in  their  stead." — (p.  55.) 
In  another  part  it  is  mentioned,  that  "  Clirist,  hating  home  the  -weight  of  God's 
wmth,  satisfied  his  justice,  procured  his  favor,  purchased  reconciliation." — 
(Sec  pp.  44,  161,  168.) 

From  these  citations  it  would  appear  that  the  Creator  required  his  beloved 
and  only  Son  to  die  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  that  unless  he  had  suffered  an 
ignominious  death  upon  the  cross,  no  man  could  have  been  saved.  And 
why,  it  may  be  asked,  did  he  require  an  innocent  person  to  suffer  for  others' 
crime  ?  Was  it  because  he  was  not  omnipotent  to  save  ?  Was  it  because  he 
was  angry  with  some  of  his  children,  and  wished,  like  an  Oriental  despot, 
to  have  his  anger  and  insulted  self  propitiated  by  presents  and  protestations 
as  a  satisfaction,  before  he  would  receive  them  into  his  favor?  To  this,  it  is 
answered  in  the  negative,  and  we  are  informed  that  he  acted  thus  because 
he  wished  to  make  a  display  of  his  justice  and  grace  among  mankind  ;  that 
he  could  have  done  otherwise  if  it  had  been  his  pleasure ;  that  this  is  a  sub- 
ject that  requires  faith.  But  to  this  we  reply,  is  it  not  admitted  that  God 
cannot  do  aught  which  is  evil,  !\nd  if  so,  and  he  had  exercised  his  attributes 
as  represented,  he  would  have  done  a  great  evil  and  injustice  in  causing  an 
innocent  person,  even  his  only  Son,  to  be  nailed  upon  a  cross,  and  suffer  an 
excruciating  death,  and  this  merely  because  he  wished  to  make  a  display  of 
his  power!  And  thus,  we  are  informed,  that  Christ  bore  the  weight  of 
God's  wrath,  satisfied  his  justice,  procured  his  favor,  and  purchased  recon- 
ciliation. Eightly  was  it  said,  that  we  have  not  fiir  to  go  to  behold  a  heatlien 
Deity ;  for,  according  to  this  representation,  we  see  a  God  who  required  a 
sacrifice  of  a  human  victim  upon  his  altar,  before  he  would  be  propitiated. 
And  concerning  this  subject  it  cannot  be  said  that  it  has  been  misrep- 
resented ;  for  the  time  has  been  when  Calvin  openly  taught  that  God  did  in 
reality  will  and  ordain  man  to  dishonor  and  wrath  for  their  sins,  to  the  praise 
of  his  vindictive  justice. 

The  first  mention  we  find  of  the  present  Calvinistic  manner  of  understand- 
ing the  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  is  among  the  ancient  Jews.  As  their 
forefathers  were  idolaters,  it  was  their  custom,  like  other  savage  nations,  to 
ofler  sacrifices  to  their  gods,  that  their  anger  might  be  propitiated,  and  that 
in  this  manner  they  might  atone  for  their  sins.  At  times,  as  the  Scriptures 
inform  us,  the  ancient  Israelites  went  so  far  as  even  to  cast  their  sons  and 
daughters  into  the  fire  as  a  sacrifice.  Now  Swedenborg  informs  us,  that  as 
fiir  as  possible  to  prevent  this  horrible  practice,  the  Jews  were  permitted  to 
institute  the  custom  of  ofl'ering  to  the  Deity,  as  a  part  of  their  external  wor- 
ship, sacrifices  of  various  kinds.  Thus  we  read  in  Moses  of  the  meat,  the 
peace,  sin,  burnt,  and  trespass  offerings.     As  fiir  as  it  was  possible  it  was 


VASTNESS    OF    DIVINE    LOVE.  163 

was  a  divine  Being  he  could,  with  infinite  ease,  have  deluded  and 
blinded  the  eyes  of  his  persecutors,  and  caused  another  to  have 
seemingly  suffered  at  the  place  of  crucifixion.  But  it  is  not  thus 
when  the  subject  is  rightly  considered,  for  then  it  is  seen  that  the 
narration  concerning  the  atonement  or  reconciliation  is  by  far  the 
most  important  trutli  to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures ;  and  not  to  men- 
tion it,  or  to  pass  it  by  as  a  mystery,  would  be  as  if  the  historian 
should  neglect  to  recount  that  Washington  was  the  saviour  of  his 
country.  When  we  think  of  his  toils,  struggles,  and  sufferings, 
we  do  not  believe  that  they  were  imaginary,  or  that  the  work  ac- 
complished was  unnecessary.  Far  from  it.  We  can  accompany 
him  to  the  council-chamber,  or  the  battle-field,  and  see  what  in- 
domitable strength  of  mind  he  manifested,  what  fertility  of  re- 
source ;  and,  above  all,  the  soul  of  the  patriot  which  he  exhibited  in 
resisting  that  tempting  thought  which  informed  him  that  he  could 
stifle  the  genius  of  liberty  and  found  a  despotism.  And  if  we 
can  thus  intellectually  accompany  the  ffither  of  this  happy  land, 
why  should  we  consider  as  naught  the  sight  of  the  great  Crea- 
tor, the  Father  of  countless  millions,  descending  from  his  throne, 
bowing  down  the  heavens,  and  appearing  on  this  earth  as  its 
Sa\iour  ? 

What  pen,  what  language  can  describe  his  condescension  and 
and  love  exhibited  for  his  children  on  this  great  occasion  !  Yet 
this  is  the  subject  passed  by  as  mystery,  or  in  reality  considered 
as  nothing  ;  for  what  mention  at  the  present  day  is  made  of  th<^ 
Lord's  temptation,  or  of  his  combats  with  the  powers  of  evil  ? 
They  are  omitted,  and  it  is  unknown  that  they  had  any  effect  in 
accomplishing  the  great  work  of  redemption.  Truly  is  the  Chris- 
tian to  be  thankful  for  the  light  thi-own  on  this  subject,  for  he 
can  now  see  that  when  he  suffers  on  the  bed  of  sickness,  and  ex- 
periences grievous  mental  temptations,  so  also  did  his  Saviour, 
and  that  if  they  were  absolutely  necessary  and  unavoidable  in 

taiifrht  the  Jews,  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats  were  not  to  be  received 
in  lien,  and  as  a  substitute  for,  the  sacrifice  of  their  evil  inclinations;  bu'. 
as  this  could  not  be  accomplished  in  all  cases,  rather  than  that  they  should 
throw  off  tiieir  allegiance,  it  was  permitted  them  to  believe  that  God  was  in 
reality  pleased  with  tiie  sacrifice,  and  that  an  oflering  purchased  a  recon- 
ciliation with  their  ilaker.  Yet  it  is  from  this  Jewish  and  savasre  belief 
that  tl;e  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  the  atonement  is  derived,  and  that  Christ 
was  slain  as  a  sacrifics  ■  nd  substituted  victim  for  the  sins  of  the  world  ! 


164  THE    ATONEMENT    OR    RECONCILIATION. 

one  case,  so  likewise  were  they  in  the  other ;  and  that  it  is  only 
by  the  like  endurance  of  them,  by  the  subjugation  of  the  powers 
of  evU,  that  his  Avork  of  redemption  can  be  accomplished,  the  ex- 
ample of  his  great  Prototype  followed,  and  man  be  enabled  to 
reconcile  his  fallen  humanity  with  the  Divinity,  be  at  one  with 
him,  and  partake  of  his  happiness. 


SECTION   XI. 


THE  TRINITY. 


The  next  subject  we  propose  for  examination  is  the  divine 
Trinity.  Before  attempting  to  exhibit  it,  let  us  first  state  the 
beUef  generally  held  and  taught.  In  the  Confession  of  Faith 
which  is  found  in  the  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  which  may  be  considered  as  giving  the  popular  belief,  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  thus  stated :  "In  the  unity  of  the  God- 
head there  be  three  persons  of  one  substance,  power,  and  eter- 
nity :  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost." 
An  eminent  A\Titer  in  reference  to  this  subject  says,  that  "  the 
Son  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God  his  Father,  as  our  proctor 
and  attorney,  pleading  and  suing  for  us  in  all  our  needs  and  ne- 
cessities." Another  learned  Trinitarian  informs  us,  that  "  when 
man  was  created  a  council  Avas  held,  and  the  three  persons  of  the 
Trinity,  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  consulted  about  it 
and  concuiTed  in  it."  In  Malcom's  Bible  Dictionar}"  (article  In- 
tercession) it  is  stated,  that  "  intercession  is  the  coming  in  be- 
tween two  parties,  in  order  to  plead  in  behalf  of  the  one  that  has 
offended.  Christ  intercedes  for  his  Church  by  appearing  for  it 
before  the  Father,  by  presenting  the  merits  of  his  sacrifice  once 
offered,  and  obtaining  answers  to  petitions  or  prayers  made  in  his 
name." 

Now  if  the  above  citations  do  not  teach  and  give  the  reader  to 
understand  that  there  are  at  least  two  divine  persons,  God  the 
Father  and  God  his  Son,  we  do  not  know  how  it  would  be  pos- 
sible to  convey  such  meaning  by  the  use  of  language ;  yet  the 
receivers  of  it,  that  is,  the  Trinitarians,  affirm  that  they  believe  in 
the  existence  of  onlv  one  God.     The  fact  that  many  do  not  be- 


16G  THE   TOINITY. 

lieve  in  the  existence  of  one  Supreme  Being,  but  in  two,  what- 
ever may  be  said  with  the  hps,  is  evinced  by  the  fact  that  prayers 
are  offered  to  God  the  Father,  that  he  may  pardon  their  sins  for 
the  sake  of  his  Son.  Now  if  it  is  beheved  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  only  Supreme  Being,  -why  should  not  prayers  be 
offered  to  him  alone  ?  The  prayer  which  Ave  often  hear  offered 
in  our  churches,  literally  entreats  God  to  pardon  their  sins  for  the 
sake  of  God :  which  is  irrational,  a  useless  repetition,  and  wholly 
unworthy  of  an  enlightened  community. 

The  unity  of  God  is  so  plainly  and  repeatedly  taught  in  the 
Scriptures,  that  it  would  appear  impossible  that  any  class  of  per- 
sons should  allow  themselves  to  be  so  blinded  by  a  false  doctrine 
as  to  believe  otherwise.  Among  the  declarations  concerning  the 
divine  imity,  we  find  the  following  in  the  writings  of  the  evange- 
list. Thus,  in  Mark  :  "  There  is  one  God,  and  there  is  none  other 
but  He."  Again,  in  the  1st  of  Corinthians  :  "There  is  none  other 
God  hut  one."  Also,  in  Matthew :  "  There  is  none  good  but  one, 
that  is  God."  "  One  is  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  "  God 
is  one."  "Thou  art  God,  even  thou  alone,  of  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  earth."  "I,  even  I,  am  He,  and  there  is  no  God  ivith  me." 
"  I  am  Jehovah,  and  there  is  none  else."*  Though  we  would  not 
wish  to  assert  that  the  commandment  Avhich  was  written  on  stone, 
and  promulgated  amid  the  fires  of  Sinai,  is  at  this  day  wilfully 
broken  in  the  prayers  offered,  yet  we  do  affirm  that  it  lacks  not 
much  of  it.  The  first  and  great  commandment  is,  Thou  shalt 
have  no  other  gods  before  me.  Now  if  it  is  taught  that  God  the 
Father  is  a  person,  and  God  the  Son  a  person,  and  it  is  beheved 
that  one  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  the  other,  and  that  both  are  to 
be  worshipped,  we  do  not  see  how  it  can  be  made  to  appear  that 
many  Christians  are  not  instructed  to  worship  other  gods  than 
one.  Possibly  a  learned  Trinitarian  might  cause  himself  to  be- 
lieve that  he  saw  a  difference,  and  that  God  is  one  ;  yet  we  would 
ask  how  this  would  be  with  the  unlearned  Christian,  who  takes  it 
for  granted  that  person  signifies  person  ;  and  that  if  one  sits  at 
the  side  of  another,  and  intercedes  Avith  him  for  mankind,  there 

*  Paul,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  thus  beautifully  testifies  to  the 
divine  unity.  He  says,  "there  is  one  body,  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  ye  are 
called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling ;  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  oiie  God 
and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all.  and  in  voii  all."— (iv.) 


DISCORDANT    VIICWS.  167 

are  not  in  reality  two  distinct  personages.  The  fact  that  the  re- 
ligious books  of  the  present  day  continually  make  mention  of  God 
the  Father  as  a  being  separate  from  his  Son,  alone  evinces  the 
truth,  and  that  the  so  claimed  orthodox  belief  is  but  one  of  mere 
words.  Let  the  Trinitarian  ask  himself,  when  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  mentioned,  whether  he  immediately  conceives  and  thinks 
of  him  as  the  Almighty,  and  without  reference  to  any  other  being. 
If  he  does  not,  his  belief  is  but  a  verbal  one ;  and  however  he 
may  deceive  himself  in  regard  to  his  faith  concerning  the  oneness 
of  the  Deity,  there  is  a  clear  idea  in  his  mind  of  two  distinct  per- 
sons and  beings  (God  the  Father  and  bis  Son),  who  conjointly 
reign  and  rule  in  the  heavens. 

Among  the  difficulties  in  respect  to  the  present  received  belief 
concerning  the  Trinity  is,  that  it  distracts  attention,  and  the  mind 
cannot  address  itself  unto  one  great  and  supreme  Being,  as  it 
otherwise  would.  The  belief  as  it  now  is,  teaches  that  God  the 
Father  is  a  superior  being  to  his  Son  ;  a  stem,  inflexible  Deity, 
who  would  not  be  reconciled  to  his  children  until  his  only  Son 
had  suffered.  On  the  other  hand,  Jesus,  considered  as  a  bleeding, 
suffering  Saviour,  is  looked  upon  in  a  far  different  light,  and  one 
by  whose  assistance  alone  Ave  can  approach  the  throne  of  the  ter- 
rible Jehovah.  It  is  considered  that  the  one  is  a  Being  whom  we 
can  supplicate,  receive  his  love,  and  give  ours  in  return  ;  but  that 
the  other  is  a  Deity  too  grand,  awful,  and  majestic  to  approach, 
much  less  make  an  object  of  affection.  The  difficulties  and  false 
belief  in  reference  to  this  subject,  liave  caused  many  (including 
that  respectable  body  of  Christians  known  as  the  Unitarians) 
wholly  to  deny  the  divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  assert 
that  he  was  no  more  a  divine  being  than  any  of  the  prophets. 

The  belief  appears  so  erroneous  to  the  Mahometans,  that  so  far 
nearly  all  attempts  to  disseminate  the  truths  of  Christianity  among 
them  have  proved  unavailing,  they  affirming  that  they  wish  not 
to  hear  of  a  religion  that  teaches  there  are  three  Gods  ;  and  we 
must  say  that  in  reference  to  their  sincere  belief  concerning  one 
great  and  supreme  Being,  to  whom  alone  worship  is  to  be  given, 
their  faith  is  far  superior  to  that  of  many  of  those  who  nominally 
pass  as  Christians. 

The  present  irrational  custom  of  praying  to  God  the  Father  to 
pardon  the  sins  of  the  world  for  the  sake  of  his  Son,  was  wholly 


168  'fHK   TRINITY. 

unknown  to  the  primitive  Christians,  and  is  one  of  the  absurd 
falsities  and  creations  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  from  which  it 
was  derived  and  retained  by  Calvin  and  Luther.  That  this  is  so, 
is  evinced  from  the  oldest  prayer  that  has  come  down  to  us  com- 
posed by  an  uninspired  Christian ;  that  of  the  celebrated  Chry- 
sostom,  and  which  is  now  retained  in  the  Church.  The  prayer 
is  addressed  to  Christ  himself,  with  the  title  of  Almighty  God. 
This  is  evinced  by  the  allusion  made  to  the  promise  which  the 
Saviour  gave  to  his  disciples,  as  Avhen  it  is  said,  "Where  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst 
of  them." — Matt,  xviii.  20.  The  prayer  of  this  primitive  Chris- 
tian is  thus :  "Almighty  God,  Avho  hast  given  us  grace  at  this 
time  with  one  accord  to  make  our  common  supphcation  unto 
thee,  and  dost  promise  that  when  two  or  three  are  gathered  to- 
gether in  thy  name  thou  wilt  grant  their  request,  fulfil  now,  0 
Lord,  the  desires  and  petitions  of  thy  servants  as  may  be  most 
expedient  for  them ;  granting  us  in  this  world  knowledge  of  thy 
truth,  and  in  the  world  to  come  life  everlasting." 

That  the  primitive  Christian  Churches  were  accustomed  to 
pray  to  Christ  as  the  only  living  God,  is  also  evinced  from  the 
Scriptures.  Thus  Paul,  in  Cor.  xii.  8,  prayed  directly  to  Christ. 
He  says  concerning  the  messenger  of  Satan  :  "  Thrice  I  besought 
the  Lord  that  it  might  depart  from  me ;  but  he  said  unto  me. 
My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee ;  for  my  power  is  made  perfect  in 
weakness ;  most  gladly,  therefore,  Avill  I  rather  glory  in  mine  in- 
firmities, that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me."  In  this 
passage  St.  Paul  informs  us  that  he  thrice  prayed  to  Christ  con- 
cerning the  particular  subject  mentioned. 

So  universal  Avas  the  custom  in  those  times  of  praying  to 
Christ  as  the  God  of  the  universe,  that  Christians  were  originally 
entitled,  as  their  distinguishing  appellation,  "  Those  who  called 
on  the  name  of  Christ."  Thus  Ananias  says  to  Christ  (Acts 
ix.  14),  "And  here  he  hath  (speaking  of  Saul)  authority  from  the 
chief  priests  to  bind  all  that  call  on  thy  name."  The  people  of 
Damascus  also,  when  they  heard  Paul  preach,  were  amazed,  and 
said,  "  Is  not  this  he  that  destroyed  them  which  called  on  this 
name  in  Jerusalem?"*  Again,  in  the  first  of  Corinthians,  chap,  i., 
it  is  written :  "  Paul  called  to  be  an  apostle  of  Jesus  through  the 
*  Acts  ix.  21, 


SWEDENBORGS    EXPLANATION.  IfiO 

will  of  God  and  Sosthenes  our  brother,  unto  the  church  of  God 
which  is  at  Corinth,  to  them  that  are  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus, 
called  to  be  saints,  with  all  that  in  every  place  call  upon  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

From  the  above  it  can  be  seen  that  in  those  primitive  times, 
all  in  every  place  called  upon  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
called  upon  him  Avithout  reference  to  another ;  and  not  as  now, 
entreating  God  the  Father  to  pardon  their  sins  by  and  through 
the  merits  and  mediation  of  a  being  called  his  Son.  This  they 
did  not,  because  -they  knew  nothing  concerning  the  modern  doc- 
trine of  the  atonement  and  Trinity. 

Having  thus,  as  we  trust,  shown  the  irrationality  of  the  present 
popular  belief  concerning  the  Trinity,  and  the  consequences  which 
necessarily  result,  let  us  proceed  to  examine  the  explanation 
which  Swedenborg  gives,  and  with  which  it  is  believed  the  Scrip- 
tures concur. 

In  reference  to  this  subject,  we  are  taught  that  though  there 
is  a  divine  trinity  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  yet  it  is  a  trinity  of 
principles  and  not  of  persons.  And  as  every  man  is  made  after 
God's  likeness  and  image,  hence  he  has  represented  within  him- 
self the  Trinity.  Thus  the  soul  represents  the  principle  known  as 
the  Father,  the  body  the  Son,  and  the  operative  energy  the  Holy 
Spirit.  By  the  operative  eneigy,  we  would  be  understood  to 
designate  that  which  proceeds  from  one  when  he  writes  or  con- 
verses. An  eloquent  orator  when  he  arrests  the  attention  of  his 
hearers,  diffuses  his  operative  energy  or  spirit  upon  every  side. 
The  Lord  when  on  this  earth,  by  his  conversation  and  eloquence, 
by  his  speaking  as  man  never  before  or  since  spake,  diffused  his 
operative  energy  or  spirit,  and  by  this  means  was  enabled  to  dis- 
seminate the  truths  of  the  Christian  relio-ion. 

o 

This  explanation  of  the  Trinity  is  not  only  easy  to  be  compre- 
hended, but  is  satisfactory  to  our  rational  powers.  It  is  also  in 
accordance  with  the  Scriptures,  and  explains  those  difficult  pas- 
sages which  have  so  long  been  considered  inexplicable.  Thus  we 
read  in  John,  that  "  no  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time."  By 
this,  we  are  informed,  is  to  be  understood  that  no  man  has  seen 
the  Divine  esse,  that  is,  the  soul  of  God,  or  the  Father ;  it  beino- 
a  principle  incapable  of  being  seen  by  human  or  angelic  A-ision. 
This  was  the  principle  or  soul  which  animated  the  divine  form  of 


170  THE   TRINITY. 

the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  hence  the  Lord  repeatedly  informs  us 
that  the  Father  was  in  him,  and  he  in  the  Father ;  or,  as  he  says 
in  another  phice,  "  I  and  the  Father  are  one."  "  He  that  seeth 
me  seeth  the  Father." 

It  has  been  a  mystery  how  the  Spirit  of  God  can  fill  the  mind 
of  every  man,  yet  lose  nothing  itself,  still  remaining  the  same 
unchanp-eable  being.  By  understanding  i  the  arcana  concerning 
the  Lord's  Spirit,  this  mystery  is  capable  of  being  comprehended. 
The  case  is  thus  :  the  sun  shines,  and  diffuses  its  light  and  heat 
into  all  things,  and  causes  them  to  live  and  gi-ow ;  yet  at  the 
same  time  it  loses  none  of  its  rays,  and  remains  the  same  un- 
changeable luminous  body.  And  it  is  tlie  same  with  the  Deity ; 
for  we  are  informed  that  he  does  not,  in  the  hidden  world,  sit 
upon  a  throne,  but  literally  exists  and  has  his  abode  in  the  midst 
of  a  radiant  and  glorious  sun,  and  from  which  he  shines  uito  the 
minds  of  his  children.  This  grand  and  central  sun  is  not  for  a 
moment  considered  by  the  angels  as  the  Deity,  but  as  the  efful- 
gence and  glory  proceeding  from  him.  Though  God's  Spirit 
shines  into  the  souls  of  all  men,  and  is  the  vital  principle  which 
causes  them  to  exist,  yet  the  divine  light  and  life  is  received  in 
one  manner  by  the  good  and  in  another  by  the  evil.  With  the 
latter  (man  being  free)  the  light  of  life  and  truth  is  perverted, 
yet  the  Spirit  of  God  unchanged  still  remains  within.  It  remains 
in  the  evil  man  in  a  manner  not  dissimilar  to  that  of  the  sun 
when  it  shines  upon  loathsome  objects,  and  by  its  light  and  heat 
causes  noxious  plants  to  grow  and  have  an  existence,  yet  is  still 
in  no  manner  contaminated  or  changed  by  the  connection. 

That  God  is  the  author  of  spiritual  light  unto  mankind,  is  ex- 
hibited from  many  passages  of  the  Scriptures.  Thus  in  Cor. 
iv.  6  :  "  For  God  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of  the 
darkness,  hath  shined  into  our  hearts  to  save  us  the  lisjht  of 
knowledoe."  A<^ain  in  Luke  ii.  2  :  "  A  lisfht  to  lisxhten  the  Gen- 
tiles,  and  the  glory  of  his  people  Israel."  Also  in  John:  "  I  am 
the  Light  of  the  world ;  he  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in 
darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life"  (viii.  12).  The  prophet 
Malachi  designates  the  Lord,  the  Sun  of  Righteousness — the  orb 
in  which  righteousness  is  originally  inherent,  in  which  he  dwells, 
and  from  which  he  shines  into  mankind.  In  the  same  maimer  it 
is  also  said  by  David,  that  the  "  Lord  God  is  a  sun." 


TRUE   IDEA    OF   THE   HOLY    SPIRIT.  HJ 

It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  mention,  that  the  third  principle  of  the 
Divine  Trinity,  or  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  not  once  mentioned  in  the 
Old  Testament,  and  it  is  only  in  the  writings  of  the  Evangelists 
that  it  can  be  found.  The  reason  is,  not  that  the  Spirit  of  the 
great  Beuig  did  not  before  shed  its  benignant  influence  upon  the 
minds  of  his  children,  but  that  it  did  not  shine  with  that  lustre 
which  accompanied  it  when  our  Saviour  had  accomplished  the 
work  of  redemption,  and  as  far  as  possible  removed  the  thick 
clouds  of  evil  which  overshadowed  the  world.  Thus  it  is  said  in 
John,  that  "  the  Holy  Ghost  or  Spirit  was  not  yet,  because  that 
Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified  ;"  but  after  the  glorification,  or  deifi- 
cation, it  is  said  that  "  he  breathed  the  same  upon  his  disciples, 
saying.  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost."  Those  of  the  ancient 
school  of  Theology  who  affirm  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  person, 
would,  we  think,  find  it  difficult  to  show  how  the  Lord  could 
have  breathed  a  jjerson  ;  yet  if  it  is  claimed  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  a  person,  this  irrationality  must  be  adhered  to. 

It  is  of  common  occurrence  for  a  person  to  remark  that  he  has 
Milton  in  his  library :  not  implying  by  this  that  he  has  Milton 
himself  thus  imprisoned,  but  that  he  has  his  operative  energy 
embodied  in  his  immortal  works.  Now  if  we  can  conceive  how 
the  spirit  of  Milton  can  be  inclosed  in  his  writings,  yet  still  him- 
self exist  in  the  hidden  world,  we  can  see  how  the  Spirit  of  God 
can  exist  and  be  contained  in  the  Holy  Oracles,  while  God  him- 
self remains  the  Sun  of  heaven.  That  God's  Holy  Spirit  is  in 
the  Bible,  and  in  a  certain  sense  God  himself,  is  evinced  from  the 
Scriptures.  Thus  it  is  said,  that  "  in  the  beginning  was  the  Word, 
and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God."  The 
great  Being,  when  he  dwelt  among  us,  appeared  as  Truth,  and  as 
the  representative  of  the  principle  which  was  and  is  to  subdue  all 
errors  and  falsities  ;  and  the  case  is  parallel  with  that  of  a  mission- 
ary ;  for  let  such  a  person  go  among  a  tribe  of  savages,  and  he 
goes  among  them  as  Tnith  itself,  and  by  which  alone  he  is  ena- 
bled to  make  them  a  moral  and  civilized  people.  It  is  the  object 
of  a  sincere  missionary  to  diffuse  his  beneficent  and  pious  spirit 
among  those  with  whom  he  resides,  and  make  them  act  in  inter- 
ests as  one,  thus  that  his  spirit  may  be  in  them,  and,  as  it  were, 
they  in  him.  And  so  likewise  it  is  with  the  great  Missionary,  or 
Christ,  from  whom  Christendom  is  named ;  for,  as  he  infcjnns  us, 


J72  THE   TEESriTy. 

it  is  his  desire  that  his  spirit,  that  is,  the  true  spu-it  of  Christianity, 
should  be  in  his  children,  and  they  in  him,  that  thus  they  may 
truly  represent  their  great  Leader's,  or  Christ's,  spiritual  body, 
and  act  as  one  and  be  one. 

In  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  Trinity  it  is  stated,  that  the  prin- 
ciple known  as  the  Son  interceded  with  the  Father.  Rightly  to 
understand  this,  it  is  but  necessary  to  consider  the  trinity  which 
composes  every  man.  Thus  no  man  can  approach  another  ex- 
cept through  the  medium  of  his  body.  And  thus  it  was  with 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  for  his  divine  body  was  the  medium  by 
Avhich  mankind  might  approach  his  soul,  or  the  Father.  As  we 
have  before  obsened,  the  majesty  of  God,  considered  in  refer- 
ence to  his  divine  essence,  was  so  great,  that  it  was  necessary 
he  should  veil  the  brightness  of  his  splendor  in  a  body  of  flesh, 
that  he  might  appear  and  make  himself  known  to  his  children. 
If  he  had  not  thus  veiled  himself,  and  had  appeared  difterently, 
none  could  have  borne  his  presence ;  hence  the  Lord's  divine 
body  was  a  mediator  and  intercessor,  and,  when  enduring  temp- 
tations and  sufferings,  a  propitiation  and  sacrifice. 

This  explanation  is  taught  in  the  Scriptures.  Thus  we  read  (in 
John  xiv.  6),  that  "  no  man  cometh  to  the  Father  except  by  the 
Son ;"  that  is,  through  and  by  the  means  of  the  divine  form  of 
the  Saviour.  There  is  also  another  sense  to  be  drawn  from  this 
text ;  for  when  it  is  affirmed  that  "  no  man  cometh  to  the  Father 
except  by  the  Son,"  it  is  to  be  understood,  that  no  man  can 
know  God  and  be  one  with  him,  except  by  receiving  the  princi- 
ples and  tiiith  which  the  Lord  taught  when  on  this  earth,  and 
which  includes  repentance  and  regeneration;  and  hence  when 
the  Christian  knows  and  practises  them,  thus  following  the  foot- 
steps of  his  Divine  Master,  he  is  filled  and  baptized  with  his 
Spirit,  and  can  know  the  Father. 

It  is  far  from  our  intention  to  give  the  reader  to  understand 
that  there  are  not  passages  in  the  Scriptures  in  which  it  appears 
that  in  the  Divine  Trinity  there  are  at  least  two  separate  Gods. 
There  are  such  passages,  and  we  often  read  of  the  Father  and 
the  Son.  It  is  also  seemingly  given  us  to  understand,  that  God 
the  Son  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God  the  Father.  But  a 
moment's  reflection  Avill  conAnnce  that  such  passages  are  not  to 
be  taken  in  their  literal  sense.     They  are  not  to  be  received,  ex- 


THE   EIGHT    HAND   OF   JEHOVAH.  173 

cept.  figuratively,  for  if  we  receive  them  according  to  the  letter, 
we  might  with  equal  consistency  be  compelled  to  allow  a  literal 
sense  to  texts  which  exhibit  the  Deity  in  a  manner  abhorrent  to 
every  rational  mind.  Thus  it  is  said  in  John,  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  dove.  Again  it  is  Avritten,  that' 
St.  John  saw  the  Lord  in  heaven  in  the  form  of  a  lamb ;  and 
in  another  place,  that  he  appeared  with  a  sword-  issuing  from  his 
mouth.  No  one  can  for  a  moment  believe  that  the  dove  was  the 
Holy  Spirit,  or  that  God  exists  in  the  form  of  a  lamb,  or  with  a 
sword  issuing  from  his  mouth,  it  being  evident  that  the  words 
are  written  in  a  figurative  and  emblematical  manner ;  a  dove  rep- 
resenting innocence,  a  lamb  puritv,  and  the  sword  the  Word  of 
God. 

God  in  the  Scriptures  is  frequently  known  under  different 
names ;  such  as  Creator,  Saviour,  Redeemer,  Jesus  Christ,  Mes- 
siah, Son  of  God,  Son  of  man,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel ;  but  we 
would  not  from  this  believe  that  there  are  as  many  Gods  as 
names ;  yet  it  is  as  rational  to  believe  in  as  many  Gods  as  the 
ancient  heathen  worshipped,  as  two  or  three.  A  man  in  this 
world  frequently  has  many  names  and  titles,  and  can  rightly  as- 
sume, in  his  own  person,  and  be  known  as  a  Judge,  Secretary, 
General,  or  President ;  yet  no  one  for  a  moment  supposes  that 
he  is  divided  into  as  many  persons  as  he  has  titles  and  offices. 
And  in  reference  to  the  Scriptures,  it  is  the  same  with  the  Lord. 
At  his  pleasure  he  adopted  those  names  by  which  he  might  best 
make  himself  kno^vn  to  his  children. 

By  the  Lord's  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  is  intimated 
that  in  him  is  vested  all  power.  From  a  knowledge  of  the  Sci- 
ence of  Con-espondences,  or  the  fixed  and  unchangeable  principles 
by  Avhich  the  Scriptures  are  written,  we  are  taught  that  the 
right  hand  signifies  power.  It  designates  power,  because  the 
right  hand  is  one  of  the  most  important  members  of  the  human 
frame,  and  the  grand  instrument  by  which  we  are  enabled  to  per- 
form the  A^aried  uses  of  life.  Thus  in  Psalms  it  is  said:  ''The 
right  hand  of  Jehovah  is  exalted ;  the  right  hand  of  Jehovah 
doeth  valiantly"  (cxviii.)  Also  in  Exodus :  "  For  now  I  ^y\\\ 
stretch  out  my  hand,  that  I  may  smite  thee  and  thy  people  with 
pestilence"  (ix.  15).  Again  in  Psalms:  "0  God,  thy  right 
hand   is  full  of  justice"  (xl.  viii.)      Again  (Ixxx.  11):     "Thou 


174  THE   TKINITY. 

hast  a  mighty  hand ;  strong  is  thy  hand,  and  high  is  thy  right 
hand.'"  Also  in  ex. :  "  Jehovah  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou 
at  my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool." 

In  these  passages  (and  many  others  of  the  same  nature  might 
be  quoted)  it  is  plainly  shown,  that  as  evil  is  known  and  written 
in  the  Scriptures  under  the  figurative  title  of  serpent,  the  great 
red  dragon,  (fee,  so  likewise  is  the  right  hand  of  God  representa- 
tive, and  the  language  used  to  designate  the  power  and  omnipo- 
tence of  the  Deity.  To  assert  to  the  contrary  would  be  asserting 
to  a  self-evident  falsity,  and  can  be  done  only  by  those  who 
believe  in  two  or  three  Gods,  and  that  one  sits  at  the  side  of 
another. 

The  reason  the  Saviour  is  called  the  Son  of  man  and  Son  of 
God  is,  that  he  might  fulfil  what  Avas  written  concerning  himself 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  at  the  same  time  accommodate  him- 
self to  the  understanding  of  those  around  him.  If,  at  his  first 
appearance,  he  had  bluntly  informed  them  thai  he  was  God — 
that  he  and  the  Father  were  one,  his  disciples  would  not  have 
believed  him ;  and  it  was  only  at  the  close  of  his  divine  mission 
that  this  great  truth  was  imparted  to  them.  At  first  he  ad- 
dressed them  in  the  most  simple  language,  and,  as  their  minds 
were  able  to  bear  it,  taught  them  more  recondite  truths.  That 
he  did  so,  is  evinced  from  many  passages  in  the  Scriptures. 
Thus  we  read  in  John,  that  on  a  certain  occasion  he  informed 
them,  "  the  time  cometh,  when  I  shall  no  more  speak  to  you  in 
proverbs,  but  I  shall  plainly  show  you  of  the  Father."  He 
plainly  showed  them  of  the  Father  when  he  afterwards  taught, 
as  observed  in  the  Book  of  St.  John,  that  the  Son  of  man  is  the 
Father,  that  he  and  the  Father  are  one,  and  that  those  that  saw 
him  saw  the  Father. 

It  appears  somewhat  difficult  to  comprehend  how  the  Lord 
should,  at  various  times,  have  addressed  the  principle  known  as 
the  Father,  as  if  it  were  a  person  separate  from  himself,  yet 
still  it  (that  is,  the  divine  principle)  should  be  an  inseparable 
part  of  himself ;  it  being  said  by  the  tripersonalist,  "  that  it  is 
the  same  as  if  he  asked  himself  to  assist  himself."  Though  this 
is  seemingly  contradictory,  yet  upon  examining  the  subject  we 
find  a  parallel  to  it  in  our  own  minds.  Tims  how  common  it 
is  for  one  to  commune  with  himself,  and  ask  and  answer  ques- 


A    DOUBLE    PERSONALITY.  175 

tlons.     The  subject  is  illustrated  by  supposing  the  case  of  a  man 
struggling  und<-r  grievous  temptations.     In  this  case  he  calls  up- 
on his  reason,  his  love  of  truth,  his  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  to 
come  to  his  assistance,  that  he  maj^  be  enabled  to  overcome  and 
resist  the  evil  which  desires  to  destroy  him.     In  this  case  it  can ' 
be  seen  that  a  man  literally  asks  himself  to  assist  himself;  and  it 
was  the  same  with  the  Lord ;    for  during  the   hour  of  trial,  he 
entreated  his  divine  natm-e  that  it   would   come  to  his  rescue 
and    enable   him    to   resist    the    grievous   temptations,  the  evil 
thoughts,  which  attempted  to  overcome   him.     This  subject,  or 
the  state  of  a  man  communing  with  or  addressing  himself  as  an- 
other, is  beautifully  illustrated   by  David.     Thus  he  says  in  the 
Psalms :   "  Why  art  thou  cast  down,  0  my  soul,  and  Avhy  art 
thou  disquieted  within  me  ?     Hope  thou  in  God,  for  I  shall  yet 
praise  him."     Paul  also,  in  Romans,  chap,  vii.,  exhibits  the  dou- 
ble nature — the  two  distinct  minds,  as  it  were — which  at  some 
time  every  man  possesses.     Thus  he  says  :    "  For  that  which  I 
do,  I  allow  not ;    for  what  I   would,  that  do  I  not ;    but  what  I 
hate,  that  do  I.     .     .     .     For  the  good  that  I  Avould,  I  do  not ; 
but  the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I  do."     And  in  verse  21, 
"  I  find  then  a  law,  that  when  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present 
with  me  ;  for  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man, 
but  I  see  another  law  in  my  members  (or  external  man)  war- 
ring against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity 
to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  membei-s."     He  closes  by  thus 
addressing  himself:  "O  wretched  man  that  I   am!    who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?" 

If  the  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  Lord  Avhen  on  this 
earth  had  an  inward  man  which  delighted  in  the  law  of  God, 
and  an  external  man  liable  to  the  assaults  of  temptation,  and  that 
when  he  communed  with  himself  as  with  another,  it  was  only 
the  addressing  of  his  human  to  his  divine  nature,  all  difficulty  in 
comprehending  the  double  nature  of  the  Lord  Avill  be  avoided ; 
if  not,  we  refer  to  the  source  from  which  we  have  gathered  our 
information,  and  which  more  fully  illustrates  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trmity. 


SECTION    XII, 


THE  SECOND  ADVENT. 


PART  I. 

PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIOXS. 

The  next  and  most  important  subject  which  presents  itself  in 
the  order  proposed,  is  conceniing  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord. 
In  reference  to  this  advent,  it  is  beheved  and  taught  by  many, 
taking  the  literal  sense  of  the  Scriptures  as  a  guide,  that  it  is  to 
he  a  personal  coning,  and  that  the  Son  of  man,  suddenly  and  as 
a  thief  in  the  night,  will  appear  in  the  clouds  attended  bv  his 
angels,  and  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory :  that  at  the  sound 
of  a  great  trumpet  he  will  send  forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall 
gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all  things  that  offend,  and  them  which 
do  iniquity,  and  shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire,  where  there 
shall  be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth  ;  or,  as  is  written  in  an- 
other place,  "  he  shall  say  unto  them  on  the  left  hand,  Depart 
from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  denl 
and  his  angels." 

It  is  believed  that  this  great  event,  or  the  end  of  the  world, 
will  be  marked  and  preceded  by  prodigies  of  wonders ;  that  there 
shall  be  earthquakes ;  that  the  sun  shall  be  darkened  and  the 
moon  shall  .not  give  her  light,  and  the  stai-s  shall  fall  from 
heaven. 

Such  is  the  belief  held  and  taught,  but  we  will  endeavor  to 
show,  on  the*  contrary,  that  the  Avhole  narration  concerning  the 
second  coming  of  the  Lord  is  not  to  be  taken  in  its  literal  sense, 
but  as  a  description  highly  figurative  and  svmbolioal. 


BELIEF   OF   THE   JEWS.  177 

Rightly  to  consider  this  important  subject,  let  us  place  ourselves 
in  the  situation  that  the  Jews  were  before  the  Lord  our  Savioiu 
made  his  appearance  on  this  earth.  At  this  time  the  Israelites 
were  the  chosen  people  of  God,  and  those  to  whom  the  Holy 
Oracles  had  specially  been  intrusted  for  preservation.  At  this 
period  the  writings  of  the  evangelists  were  not  in  existence,  and 
the  Old  Testament  was  the  only  sacred  volume  in  which  the 
Word  of  God  could  be  found.  The  Jews  then  occupied  the 
same  position  in  regard  to  Scripture  truths,  that  the  Christian 
does  now  in  respect  to  the  heathen  world.  If  a  heathen  should 
attempt  to  argue  and  prove  to  the  Christian  that  his  belief 
was  false,  he  would  not  for  a  moment  be  listened  to,  and  this 
for  the  reason  that  the  Christian  knows  that  the  Bible  is  the 
Word  of  God.  And  the  case  would  have  been  the  same  with 
the  Jews,  if  at  that  time  a  learned  philosopher  from  Rome  oi 
Greece  had  attempted  to  reason  with  them  concerning  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  Old  Testament ;  his  argument  would  have  been  alto- 
gether disregarded,  for  the  Jews  knew  that  they  were  the  chosen 
people  of  God,  and  the  only  nation  of  the  earth  who  possessed  a 
true  revelation  of  the  Deity.  They  believed  thus,  because  he 
had  in  the  most  astonishing  manner  manifested  himself,  and  by 
astounding  miracles  irresistiblv  proved  that  he  was  the  only  true 
God,  and  superior  to  the  numerous  deities  of  the  neighboring  na- 
tions. Now  the  Jews  believed,  cis  do  the  great  body  of  Christians 
at  the  present  day,  that  the  Bible  contained  but  one  sense,  which 
was  the  literal  one,  or  that  of  the  mere  letter.  In  the  sense  of 
the  letter  they  found  it  recorded  as  God's  word,  that  the  Being 
who  had  so  miraculously  assisted  and  presened  them  for  so  many 
ages,  was  to  appear  among  them.  It  was  asserted  in  the  sense 
of  the  letter,  that  the  Messiah  would  appear  as  a  great  prince,  as 
a  hero,  a  man  of  wars,  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob,  and  as  the  King 
of  glory.  They  were  informed  that  this  great  advent  should  be 
preceded  and  accompanied  by  the  most  astonishing  and  remark- 
able events  ;  that  "  wonders  should  be  shown  in  the  heavens,  and 
in  the  earth  blood,  and  fire,  and  pillars  of  smoke ;  that  the  sun 
should  be  turned  into  darkness  and  the  moon  into  blood,  before 
the  great  and  terrible  day  came."* 

*  Joelii.  30,  31. 
12 


178  THE   SECOND   ADVENT. 

It  was  affirmed  that  at  the  Lord's  advent  Israel  should  be  ex- 
alted above  all  others ;  that  in  that  day  he  should  set  up  an  en- 
sign for  the  nations,  and  should  assemble  together  the  outcasts  of 
Israel,  and  gather  together  the  dispersed  of  Judah.  That  every 
nation  and  kingdom  that  avouM  not  serve  them  should  perish, 
yea,  that  those  nations  should  be  utterly  Avasted.  It  was  declared 
to  them  that  the  Gentiles  should  come  to  witness  Israel's  light, 
and  see  the  brightness  of  its  rising ;  that  ihe  camels  of  Ephah, 
the  dromedaries  of  Midian,  and  the  ships  of  Tarshish,  should 
bring  silver  and  gold  to  beautify  the  place  of  the  sanctuary,  build 
up  Jerasalem,  and  make  it  the  praise  of  the  whole  earth  ;  and 
that  the  people  should  inherit  the  land  forever,  and  no  more  be 
forsaken.  Xow  the  Jews  when  they  read  the  above  passages, 
and  others  of  a  similar  nature,  believed  them  in  their  literal  sense, 
and  throughout  the  land,  on  the  Sabbath,  it  was  taught  and 
preached  in  their  magnificent  temples  and  synagogues,  that  the 
Saviour  was  to  come  and  exalt  them  above  all  mankind.  If  any 
one  at  that  period  had  attempted  to  convince  the  learned  Phari- 
see, or  the  philosophic  Sadducee,  the  materialist  of  the  age,  that 
they  were  in  an  eiTor,  that  there  were  other  passages  of  the 
Scriptures  which  indicated  that  the  Lord's  coming  was  not  to 
take  place  as  literally  represented,  he  would  have  been  unheard, 
and  his  explanation  considered  the  height  of  folly.  The  orthodox 
Churchmen  of  the  age  would  not  have  listened,  not  only  because 
they  believed  they  understood  the  Scriptures  better  than  all 
others,  but  also  for  the  reason  that  at  that  time  they  earnestly 
desired  that  the  Messiah  would  come,  and  rescue  them  from  the 
difficulties  in  Avhich  Judea  was  involved,  and  which  threatened 
her  with  desti*uction. 

Time  elapsed,  the  prophecy  concerning  the  Lord's  first  advent 
was  fulfilled,  but  was  it  fulfilled  in  the  sense  of  the  letter  ?  It 
was  directly  the  contrary ;  and  so  far  from  the  Lord  appearing 
as  a  mighty  prince,  he  came  as  the  most  humble  of  persons,  being 
bom  in  a  stable,  and  seemingly  the  son  of  a  house  carpenter.  So 
far  from  his  advent  being  preceded  and  attended  by  extraordinaiy 
events  and  wonders,  histoiy  records  nothing  of  the  kind.  The 
sun  did  not  turn  into  darkness,  nor  the  moon  into  blood.  Neither 
at  his  coming,  or  in  after  years,  were  the  Israehtes  exalted  above 
all  the  nations,  or  Jemsalem  made  a  magnificent  metropohs,  and 


THE    SECOND    ADVEIsrr    NOT    LITERAL.  179 

"  the  praise  of  the  whole  earth."  The  Holy  City  was  taken  by 
its  enemies,  overturned,  and  razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  Jews 
became  not  only  a  people  without  a  country,  but  outcasts  and 
exiles. 

Now  from  what  lias  been  said  it  can  be  seen,  that  if  the  first 
advent  of  the  Lord  did  not  take  place  in  the  sense  of  the  letter, 
and  as  understood  by  the  chosen  people  of  God,  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  the  second  advent  will  not  take  place  as  is  literally 
represented.  And  in  regard  to  this  great  event,  we  are  informed, 
astonishing  as  it  may  appear,  that  as  the  Lord  stole  unknown  and 
unacknowledged  among  the  members  of  the  external  Jewish 
Church,  so  likewise  has  he  stolen  as  a  thief  in  the  night  amont; 
the  membei's  of  the  present  external  Christian  Church,  and  that 
they  are  totally  unaware  of  his  presence.  For  we  are  informed, 
in  accordance  with  Scripture,  that  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord 
or  the  Son  of  man,  when  riglitly  understood,  denotes  a  spiritual 
or  mental  coming,  and  hy  afresh  opening  of  Scripture  truths,  by 
a  general  diffusion  of  knowledge,  is  the  luorld  to  be  gradually  re- 
generated and  restored  to  the  happy  state  in  ivhich  it  icas  created. 
Such  is  a  brief  summary  of  the  nature  of  the  Lord's  glorious 
advent. 

And  in  reference  to  the  subject  we  shall  now  proceed,  first,  to 
show  the  irrationality  in  believing  that  the  Lord  will  come  as 
literally  represented ;  and,  secondly,  the  rationality  in  believing 
that  he  has  already  come  ;  that  his  advent  is  of  spiritual  or  men- 
tal nature  ;  and  that  by  fresh  opening  of  the  truths  of  the  Scrip- 
ture the  world  is  to  be  regenerated. 

And  1st.  In  respect  to  the  belief  that  the  Lord  will  come  as 
literally  stated,  it  will  be  found  that  the  whole  statement  is  in- 
volved in  innumerable  difliculties.  It  is  said  that  the  Son  of  man 
will  come  in  the  clouds,  and  that  all  who  have  existed  from  crea- 
tion will  appear  before  him.  Now  it  is  known  that  this  earth  is 
a  spherical  body,  hence,  according  to  the  law  of  optics,  it  would 
be  totally  impossible  for  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  to  see  the 
Son  of  man,  if  he  should  appear  at  one  point  in  the  heavens. 
Those  inhabitants  known  as  the  Antipodes,  and  who  live  directly 
opposite,  could  not  by  any  means  behold  him. 

It  is  also  stated,  that  at  the  second  advent  "  the  stars  will  fall 
from  heaven."     This  language,  it  also  can  be  seen,  is  symbohcal, 


180  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

and  has  an  entirely  different  sense  from  that  of  the  mere  letter. 
This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  modern  science  has  shown  that 
what  are  called  stars,  are  not  merely  twinkling  lights  made  to 
shine  by  night,  but  vast  luminous  bodies,  suns  immensely  larger 
than  this  earth ;  and  hence  to  say  that  it  is  possible  for  them  to 
come  tumbling  from  the  sky,  would  be  like  asserting  that  it  was 
possible  for  the  magnificent  sun  which  gives  us  light,  to  fall  from 
its  place  and  drop  upon  this  atom  of  a  globe. 

Again,  in  the  sense  of  the  letter  we  find  it  stated,  that  at  the 
judgment  the  wicked  will  be  cast  into  a  furnace  of  fire.  It  is  un 
necessary  to  evince  to  the  reader  that  this  passage  is  figurative, 
yet  to  be  at  all  consistent,  those  who  so  positively  insist  that  we 
must  believe  that  the  Lord  will  personally  appear  in  the  clouds, 
and  that  stars  Avill  fall  to  the  groimd,  must  beUeve  and  teach  that 
the  wicked  will,  at  some  time,  be  cast  into  a  fm-nace  of  material 
fire  and  brimstone ! 

But  there  are  other  reasons  which  cause  us  to  believe  that  the 
Lord's  advent  will  not  take  place  as  literally  represented,  and  one 
is,  that  the  Saviour  in  answer  to  the  interrogatories  of  his  disci- 
ples, who  wished  to  be  informed  when  his  second  coming  should 
take  place,  assured  them,  "  that  even  now  the  time  is  at  hand, 
and  that  this  generation  should  not  pass  away  until  all  things  be 
fulfilled."  Now  as  the  second  coming  did  not  occur  in  the  life- 
time of  the  disciples,  and  that  generation  did  pass  away,  it  must 
be  believed  that  his  language  on  this  occasion  was  in  the  highest 
degree  figurative  and  symboUcal.  This  inference  must  be  ad- 
mitted, or  the  position  be  held  that  the  Saviom-  Avas  a  false  proph- 
et, and  that  his  words  were  without  sense  or  meaning. 

That  the  Lord  did  seemingly  inform  his  disciples  that  in  their 
time  the  world  was  to  come  to  an  end,  and  the  Son  of  man  was 
to  appear,  is  evident  from  the  following,  taken  from  Matthew 
xxiv.  3  :  "  And  as  he  sat  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives,  the  disciples 
came  unto  him  privately,  saying,  Tell  us  when  shall  these  things 
be  ?  and  Avhat  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end  of 
the  world  ?"  At  this  interrogatory  it  is  stated  that  Jesus  informed 
them,  that  before  this  great  event  there  Avould  be  wars  and  ru- 
mors of  wars  ;  that  there  should  be  great  tribulations,  such  as  was 
not  since  the  bemnnina;  of  the  world  ;  that  "  immediately  after  the 
tribulation  of  those  days  shall  the  sun  be  darkened,  and  the  moon 


\ 

BELIEF    OF    THE    DISCIPLES.  181 

shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and 
the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be  shaken.  And  then  shall  ap- 
pear the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven  ;  and  then  shall  all  the ' 
tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory  ;"  and 
then,  immediately  after,  he  says  (without  disconnecting  his  dis- 
course), "  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  This  generation  shall  not  pass, 
till  all  these  things  he  fulfilled."  Again,  in  verse  28,  chap,  xvi., 
of  the  same  book,  he  also  says:  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  There 
he  some  standing  here  lohich  shall  not  taste  of  death,  till  theg  see 
the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom." 

In  the  above  citations,  and  which  can  be  found  equally  explicit 
in  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  it  is  conclusively  shown  that  the  Lord 
did  apparently  give  his  disciples  to  understand  that  his  second 
advent  was  to  take  place  in  then-  lifetime.  And  we  will  now  en- 
deavor to  show  that  the  disciples  believed  the  prophecy  in  the 
sense  of  the  letter,  and  did  in  reality  expect  and  teach  that  the 
^'orld  was  to  come  to  an  end  in  that  age.  This  is  shown  from 
repeated  passages  found  in  their  writings.  Thus  it  is  said  in  the 
Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Thessalonians  :  "  For  this  we  say  unto  you, 
by  the  word  of  the  Lord,  that  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  unto 
the  coming  of  the  Lord,  shall  not  prevent  them  Avhich  are  asleep." 
Agfain,  in  verse  5,  "  Then  we  ivhich  are  alive  and  remain,  shall 
he  caught  up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord 
in  the  air,  and  so  shall'  we  ever  be  with  the  Lord.  Wherefore 
comfort  one  another  ivith  these  loords." — 1  Thess.  iv.  14-18. 

Again,  in  James  v.  7,  9  :  "  Be  patient  therefore,  brethren,  unto 
the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Behold,  the  husbandman  waiteth  for 
the  precious  fruit  of  the  earth,  and  hath  long  patience  for  it,  until 
he  receive  the  early  and  latter  rain.  Be  ye  also  patient ;  estab- 
lish your  hearts,  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh.  Be- 
hold, the  Judge  standeth  at  the  door." 

And  also  in  Peter:  " Looking  for  and  hoping  unto  the  coining 
of  the  dag  of  God,  when  the  heavens,  being  on  fire,  shall  be  dis- 
solved, and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat."  Again, 
in  John :  "  Little  children,  it  is  the  last  time,  and  as  ye  have 
heard  that  antichrist  shall  come,  even  now  there  are  antichrists, 
wherefore  toe  know  that  it  is  the  last  time." 

From  the  above  there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  disci- 


182  THE    SECOND    xVDVENT. 

pies  and  primitive  Christians  believed,  and  continually  expected, 
the  speedy  occurrence  of  the  Lord's  second  advent.  Many  emi- 
nent writers  have  given  it  as  their  opinion,  that  the  disciples  ex- 
pected in  their  time  that  the  Saviour  Avould  make  his  second 
appearance  upon  the  earth.  Thus  Dr.  Watts  says :  "As  the 
patriarchs  and  the  Jews  of  old,  after  the  Messiah  was  promised, 
were  constantly  expecting  his  first  coming  almost  in  every  gener- 
ation, till  he  did  appear ;  and  many  modes  of  prophetical  expres- 
sion in  Scripture,  which  speak  of  things  long  to  come  as  though 
they  were  present  or  just  at  hand,  gave  tliem  some  occasion  for 
this  expectation  ;  so  the  Christians  of  the  first  age  did  generally 
expect  the  seccmd  coming  of  Christ  to  judgment,  and  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead,  in  that  very  age  Avherein  it  Avas  foretold.  St. 
Paul  gives  us  a  hint  of  it  in  2  Thess.  ii.  1,2.  They  supposed  the 
day  of  the  Lord  Avas  just  appearing.  And  many  expressions  of 
Christ  concerning  his  return,  or  coming  again  after  his  departure, 
seem  to  represent  his  absence  as  a  thing  of  no  long  continuance. 
It  is  true  these  words  of  his  may  partly  refer  to  his  coming  to 
destroy  Jerusalem,  and  the  coming  in  of  liis  kingdom  among  the 
Gentiles,  or  his  coming  by  his  messenger  of  death  ;  yet  they  gen- 
erally, in  their  supreme  or  final  sense,  point  to  his  coming  to  raise 
the  dead  and  judge  the  world.  And  from  the  words  of  Christ 
also,  concerning  John,  '  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come'  (John 
xxi.  22),  it  is  probable  that  the  apostles  themselves  at  first,  as 
well  as  other  Christians,  might  derive  this  apprehension  of  his 
sjpeedy  coming."^' 

It  may  be  said,  that  if  it  be  proved  that  the  disciples  believed 
that  the  Lord  was  personally  to  appear  in  the  clouds,  that  this  is 
a  sufficient  reason  tliat  the  present  generation  should  adopt  the 
same  belief.  But  this  inference  is  from  a  superficial  view  of  the 
subject ;.  for,  as  is  repeatedly  shown  in  the  Scriptures,  there  were 
>ome  things  and  secrets  which  were  not  disclosed  to  the  disciples, 
and  this  concerning  the  .second  coming  was  among  them.  At 
first  it  Avas  Avith  extreme  difficulty  that  the  disciples  Avould  allow 
their  minds  to  be  enlightened,  and  it  Avas  only,  as  Ave  haA'e  before 
observed,  as  they  were  able  to  hear  it,  that  the  most  simple  truths 
of  the  Word  were  spoken  unto  them  ;    and  these,  for  the  most 

*  See  "Essay  towards  the  Proof  of  a  separate  State  of  Souls,"  prefixed  to 
his  "  World  to  Come." 


\ 

BELIEF   OF   THE    DISCIPLES.  183 

part,  were  delivered  in  the  form  of  parables.  It  is  worthy 
of  mention,  that  for  some  time,  even  after  the  greatest  of 
miracles  had  been  wrought,  they  retained  the  same  views  in 
regard  to  the  Lord's  omnipotence  that  many  have  at  the  present 
day.  Thus,  when  the  Lord  informed  his  disciples,  that  "  he 
must  go  into  Jerusalem,  and  sutler  many  things  of  the  elders, 
and  the  chief  priests,  and  be  killed,  and  be  raised  again  on  the 
third  day,"  Peter  replied  and  said  :  "  Far  be  it  from  thee.  Lord  ; 
this  shall  not  be  unto  thee."  In  this  case  the  disciple  Peter,  not 
then  knowing  that  the  Lord  ever  proceeds  according  to  his  divine 
order,  could  not  believe  that  it  was  possible  that  the  Being  who 
had  controlled  the  elements  and  raksed  the  dead,  would  sutler 
himself  to  be  thus  cruelly  treated  by  the  Jews  ;  and  the  rest  of 
the  disciples  concurred  in  this  opinion,  for  we  are  informed  that 
when  the  Saviour  and  his  little  band  of  followers  were  travelling 
through  the  country,  and  on  their  wrj  to  Jerusalem,  the  Saviour, 
as  was  his  custom,  sent  a  messeno-er  to  a  village  of  the  Samari- 
tans,  to  know  whether  they  would  receive  and  make  ready  for 
them.  The  inhabitants  of  the  village,  in  answer  to  the  request, 
gave  the  messenger  to  understand  that  they  would  not.  Upon 
which,  we  are  informed,  that  when  "Ris  disciples  James  and  John 
saw  this,  they  in  anger  said,  "  Lord,  wilt  thou  that  we  command 
fire  to  come  down  fi'om  heaven  and  consume  them,  even  as  Elias 
did?"  The  Saviour,  it  is  known,  replied  and  rebuked  them,  in- 
forming them  that  "they  knew  not  what  manner  of  spirit  they 
were  of."  In  this  instance,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  disciples  to- 
tally misunderstood  the  mission  of  the  Saviour,  and  believed  that 
he  would  use  force  to  accomplish  his  purpose.  The  darkness 
which  overshadowed  their  minds  is  also  shown  in  the  passage  in 
Matthew  xxvi.  51,  where  it  is  written  that  Peter,  in  his  desire  to 
rescue  the  Lord,  "  drew  his  sword,  and  struck  a  servant  of  the 
high  priest,  and  cut  off  his  ear."  It  is  also  exhibited  in  verses 
41  and  56  of  the  same  chapter,  where  it  is  said,  when  the  Lord 
was  captured  and  bound  by  Judas  and  the  multitude,  "  then  all 
the  disciples  forsook  him  and  Jled." 

At  the  time  the  Saviour  appeared  among  the  Jews,  the  great 
body  of  the  people  were  materialists,  and  believed  in  little  except 
that  which  they  could  touch,  see,  feel,  or  taste.  Yet  it  was  from 
such  a  race  that  the  Lord  obtained  his  disciples  ;  and  when  from 


184  THE   SECOND   ADVENT. 

miraculous  evidence  they  had  been  convinced  that  the  Saviour 
was  a  supernatural  being,  they  still  retained,  in  a  great  degree, 
gross  and  sensuous  views  in  respect  to  spiritual  things.  This  is 
shown  from  the  fact  that  they  were  so  ignorant  of  the  nature  of 
true  humility,  and  of  the  practice  of  its  dictates,  and  which  had 
been  taught  to  them,  that  they  disputed  among  themselves  who 
should  be  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Thus,  as  said 
in  Luke :  "  And  there  was  also  a  strife  among  them  which  of 
them  should  be  accounted  the  greatest."  And  also  in  Mark  ix. 
34  :  "  But  they  held  their  peace  ;  for  by  the  way  they  had  dis- 
puted among  themselves  who  should  be  the  greatest." 

Not  only  did  they  totally  misunderstand  the  figurative  language 
concei-ning  the  second  coming,  but  they  believed,  with  the  rest 
of  then-  countrymen,  that  when  the  Son  of  man  and  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  did  come,  it  would  be  a  glorious  temporal  kingdom, 
founded  and  having  its  existence  upon  this  earth ;  and  one  in 
which  they  as  princes,  -svith  the  Messiah  as  its  king,  would  be 
enabled  to  rule  all  others. 

That  they  held  to  this  belief,  and  indeed  clung  to  it  as  the 
most  essential  of  all  things,  is  evinced  from  the  following,  taken 
from  the  writings  of  Presid'ent  D  wight,  who  thus  clearly  ex- 
hibits the  subject.  He  says:  " In  common  with  their  countiy- 
men,  they  expected  a  conquering,  reigning,  glorious  Messiah  ; 
who  Avas  to  subdue  and  control  all  nations  of  men.  With  him, 
also,  they  themselves  expected  to  conquer  and  reign,  together 
with  the  rest  of  the  Jeivs,  in  the  splendid  earthly  com-t  of  this 
temporal  Messiah.  No  expectation  ever  flattered  the  predominant 
passions  of  man  so  powerfully  as  this.'  It  was  the  source  of  al- 
most all  their  follies  and  faults ;  and,  in  spite  of  Christ's  instruc- 
tions and  their  piety,  it  broke  out  on  every  occasion,  and  clung 
to  them  with  immovable  adherence  till  the  day  of  Pentecost ;  for, 
just  at  the  moment  of  Christ's  ascension,  ten  days  only  before 
that  festival,  they  asked  him,  '  Lord,  wilt  thou  at  this  time  re- 
store the  klnffdom  to  Israel  f 

"  They  did  not  and  could  not  believe  that  he  would  die.  After 
he  had  predicted  his  death  at  five  or  six  diff'erent  times,  in  as 
plain  language  as  can  be  used,  St.  John  informs  us  that  '  they 
understood  not  that  saying,  and  that  it  was  hidden  from  them' 
Peter,  also,  when  Christ  had  uttered  a  predicti  )n  of  this  nature. 


CONCERNING   THE    GENTIEES.  185 

understanding  the  meaning  of  the  prediction,  took  upon  liimself 
the  office  of  rebuking  his  Master,  and  said,  'Be  it  far  from  thee, 
Lord  ;  this  shall  not  be  unto  thee.'  "* 

Nothing  exhibits  more  clearly  the  darkness  in  which  the  dis- 
ciples were  involved  in  respect  to  Scripture  truths,  than  the  fact 
that  for  a  long  time  after  the  Saviour's  ascension,  they  believed 
that  Christ  and  the  Christian  religion  was  to  be  preached  to  the 
Jews  alone,  and  was  not  destined  for  other  nations.  To  convince 
Peter  of  this  great  truth,  the  Lord  took  the  opportunity  of  in- 
forming him  concerning  the  same  in  a  dream  or  trance.  Thus 
Peter  says  to  Cornelius  and  the  brethren  assembled  at  Cesarea : 
"  Ye  know  that  it  is  an  unlawful  thing  for  a  man  that  is  a  Jew  to 
keep  company  or  come  unto  one  of  another  nation,  but  God  hath 
showed  me  that  I  should  not  call  any  man  common  oruncleany — 
Acts  X.  28.  Again  :  so  great  was  Peter's  surprise  when  he  was 
informed  by  Cornelius,  Avho  was  a  Gentile,  that  the  angel  of  God 
had  also  communed  with  him  respecting  the  same  subject,  that 
he  suddenly  exclaimed,  "  Of.  a  truth  I  (now)  perceive  that  God 
is  no  respecter  of  persons ;  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
him  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted  with  him." 

In  chapter  xv.  we  are  informed,  that  when  the  brethren  in 
Judea  heard  that  the  Gentiles  had  also  received  the  Word  of 
God,  they  examined  Peter  in  reference  to  the  subject,  and  accused 
him  of  going  in  and  eating  with  the  uncircimicised.  Thus,  as  it  is 
written:  "And  the  apostles  and  brethren  that  were  in  Judea 
heard  that  the  Gentiles  had  also  received  the  Word  of  God ;  and 
when  Peter  was  come  up  to  Jerusalem  they  that  were  of  the  cir- 
cumcision contended  with  him,  saying.  Thou  wentest  in  to  men 
uncircumcised,  and  did  eat  with  them."  But  it  is  added,  "Peter 
rehearsed  the  matter  from  the  beginning,  and  expounded  it  by 
order  unto  them,  saying,  I  was  in  the  city  of  Joppa,  and  in  a 
trance  I  saw  a  Aision,"  &c.  We  also  find  reference  made  to  this 
subject  in  chapter  xv.  In  this  case  it  appears  there  was  much 
disputing  among  the  apostles  and  elders  whether  they  should 
abide  by  Peter's  revelation.  Thus,  as  it  is  said  in  v.  Q,  "  And 
the  apostles  and  elders  (at  Jerusalem)  came  together  for  to  con- 
sider of  this  matter.     And  when  there  had  been  much  disputing, 

*  See  Dwi^ht's  Theology,  Ser.  LXI. 


186  THE   SECOND   ADVENT. 

Peter  rose  up  and  said  unto  them,  Men  and  brethren,  ye  know 
how  that  a  good  while  ago  God  made  choice  among  us,  that  the 
Gentiles  by  my  mouth  should  hear  the  word  of  the  Gospel,  and 
believe,"  &c. 

What  bigotry  would  it  indicate  at  the  present  age  to  say  that 
the  Christian  religion  was  intended  only  for  a  few  !  Yet,  as  is 
indisputably  shown  in  the  above  quotations,  this  was  the  belief 
held  by  the  apostles  during  many  years  after  the  Lord's  ascen- 
sion ;  and  we  may  safely  say  thai,  if  they  did  not  understand  this 
plain  and  simple  truth  (which  was  even  taught  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment), there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  did  not  compre- 
hend the  more  difficult  one,  concerning  the  Lord's  second  advent 
and  the  end  of  the  world.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  that  as 
Moses  drew  a  veil  over  his  writings  in  respect  to  the  creation  of 
the  earth  and  the  fall  of  man,  so  in  like  manner  did  the  Saviour 
draw  a  veil  over  his  words  concerning  his  second  coming.  He 
designedly  clothed  his  description  concerning  his  second  advent 
in  figurative  and  allegorical  language,  framing  it  so  that  it  would 
bear  two  different  meanings ;  the  one  of  a  sensuous  nature,  and 
the  other  spiritual,  and  intended  for  more  enlightened  generations. 
In  Genesis  it  is  said,  for  wise  purposes,  that  God  repented,  rested, 
was  grieved  at  heart  that  he  had  created  the  earth  and  mankind. 
Now  we  know  that  such  passages  are  not  to  be  taken  in  their 
literal  sense,  and  it  is  the  same  with  like  passages  in  the  New 
Testament ;  as,  for  instance,  where  it  is  said  that  some  of  the  dis- 
ciples should  not  taste  of  death  till  they  saw  the  Son  of  man  com- 
ing in  his  Tcingdom.  It  may  be  asked  why  the  remarks  made 
concerning  the  Lord's  second  coming  are  written  as  thev  are. 
To  this  Ave  reply,  Because  if  great  promises  had  not  been  held 
out  to  the  disciples  and  first  followei-s  of  Christ,  he  would  not 
have  been  able  to  have  established  the  Christian  religion.  The 
first  followers  of  Christ  were  free  agents  as  other  men,  and  this 
freedom  could  not  be  destroyed.  Being  Jews,  they  had  sensuous 
ideas  concerning  the  Lord's  coming ;  and,  as  Dr.  Dwight  ob- 
serves, expected  "a  conquering,  reigning,  glorious  Messiah,  who 
was  to  subdue  and  control  all  nations  of  men,  and  with  whom 
they  expected  to  reign  in  his  splendid  com-t."  The  mere  sense 
of  the  letter  favored  this  opinion,  hence  they  at  first  followed  the 
SaA-iour  from  motives  which  were  not  altogether  spiritual  and  dis- 


APPARENT  AND  REAL  TRPTH.  1^7 

interested.  If  the  Saviour  had  at  first  tauffht  them  concerninff 
his  spiritual  kingdom,  which  was  in  the  hidden  world,  and  which 
they  were  to  occupy  after  the  death  of  the  body,  they,  so  sensu- 
ous were  their  natures,  would  have  left  him.  This  is  evinced 
from  the  fact  that  when  lie  informed  them  concerning  the  bread 
of  life  which  cometh  down  from  heaven,  and  that  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  his  mystical  body  represented  that  bread,  and  that  it 
was  necessary  that  they  should  partake  of  it,  they  exclaimed  that 
it  was  a  hard  saijing,  and  asked  who  there  was  that  could  hear  it. 
It  is  also  stated  inverse  66  of  the  same  chapter,*  that  so  strange 
and  incomprehensible  did  the  Saviour's  words  appear  on  this  oc- 
casion, "  that  from  that  time  many  of  his  disciples  went  hack,  and 
walked  no  more  with  Iiiiu." 

We  are  informed  that  as  they  were  able  to  hear  it,  the  apostle 
and  others  after  the  Lord's  ascension  were,  by  the  means  of 
visions  and  dreams,  instructed  concerning  Scrip tm'e  truths.  Thus 
Paul,  who  was  a  Jew,  and  instructed  to  beUeve  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  the  sense  of  the  letter,  in  after  life  saw  that  he  had  mis- 
taken apparent  truths  for  those  of  a  different  nature,  and  that  it 
is  not  of  the  letter  (or  the  apparent  sense)  but  of  the  spirit,  for 
the  letter  killeth  but  the  spirit  giveth  life.  In  his  second  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians  he  thus  gives  his  views  on  this  subject ;  he 
says,  "  Seeing  then  we  have  such  hope,  we  use  great  plainness  of 
speech,  and  not  as  Moses,  which  put  a  veil  over  his  face^  that  the 
children  of  Israel  could  not  steadfastly  look  to  the  end  of  that 
which  is  abolished  ;  but  their  minds  were  blinded,  for  until  this 
day  remaineth  the  same  veil,  untaken  away  in  the  reading  of  the 
Old  Testament,  which  veil*  is  done  away  in  Christ.  But  even 
rtnto  this  day  when  Moses  is  read  the  veil  is  upon  their  hearts." 

In  the  above  quotation  we  are  in  the  plainest  language  told 
that  Moses  (inspu-ed  by  God)  so  wrote  the  books  which  bear  his 
name,  that  the  Israelites  could  not  steadfastly  look  to  the  end ; 
that  is,  could  not  see  through  the  allegorical  language  in  which 
was  concealed  the  real  truth.  Paul,  as  a  Jew,  would  not  have 
been  able  to  have  made  the  above  observation  ;  and  it  was  only  as 
a  Christian,  and  when  the  truth  was  revealed  to  him,  that  he 
was  able  to  see  through  the  veil  and  understand  the  mystical 
language. 

.     *  St.  John  vi.  60,  66. 


188  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

Again,  we  find  mention  made  of  this  subject  in  Paul's  Epistle 
to  the  HebreAvs.  Thus  he  says,  in  chap.  v.  12-14  :  "For  when 
for  the  time  ye  ought  to  be  teachers,  ye  have  need  that  one  teach 
you  again  Avhich  be  the  first  principles  of  the  Oracles  of  God, 
and  are  become  such  as  have  need  of  milk  and  not  of  sironrf 
meat.  For  every  one  that  useth  milk  is  unskilful  in  the  Word  of 
righteousness,  for  he  is  a  babe.  But  strong  meat  belongeth  to 
them  that  are  of  full  age,  even  those  who  by  reason  of  use  have 
their  senses  exercised  to  discern  both  good  and  evil." 

In  the  above  we  are  informed  that  so  far  from  many  of  the 
^Christians  of  that  age  understanding,  and  being  able  to  teach, 
concerning  the  mystical  language  of  the  Scriptures,  they  were 
as  babes  and  such  as  had  need  of  milk ;  that  is,  they  required 
to  be  instructed  concerning  the  first  principles  of  the  Oracles 
of  God,  before  they  attempted  to  teach  others.  We  are  also 
told  that  these  primitive  Christians,  like  many  of  the  present  age, 
asked  for  strong  meat,  that  is,  for  a  better  knowledge  of  Scrip- 
ture truths,  before  their  minds  were  capable  of  receinng  it. 

It  appears  to  us  passing  strange,  that  the  enlightened  theolo- 
gian of  the  present  age  .should  pass  by  such  passages  as  the 
above.  Avhere  in  the  plainest  language  is  indicated  the  manner  in 
whicli  the  Scriptures  are  written,  and  hoAv  they  should  be  taught. 
Should  we  refer  back  for  proof  in  reference  to  this  subject,  how 
much  evidence  might  be  adduced,  how  many  instances  could  we 
relate,  Avhere  strong  meat  has  been  given  to  the  strong,  and  milk 
to  babes  !  Let  us  take  the  case  of  Paul  when  he  became  a  convert 
to  the  Christian  religion :  then,  and  not  till  then,  was  meat  given 
to  him ;  and  it  Avas  only  as  he  increased  in  spiritual  knowledge 
that  strong  meat  was  given,  and  he  enabled  to  Avrite  in  his  Epis- 
tle to  Timothy,  that  "in  Jesus  Christ  dwelleth  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily"  Again,  meat  AA^as  given  to  Peter  and  the 
apostles  when  they  perceived  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons, and  that  Christ  and  the  Christian  religion  were  mtended  to 
be  preached  to  the  whole  world.  And  in  reference  to  the  sub- 
ject we  can  but  add,  that  milk  is  giA^en  when  it  is  taught  that 
a  serpent  conversed— that  God  repented  and  rested— thc^t  he  is  a 
bemg  of  wrath  and  vengeance— and  that  at  his  second  advent  he 
IS  personally  to  appear  in  the  clouds,  sit  upon  a  throne,  and  sen- 
tence the  wicked  to  the  pimishment  of  material  fire. 


MEAT    NOT    MILK    NOW    NEEDED.  t89 

Such  views  and  interpretations  of  the  Scriptures  are,  we  need 
hardly  inform  the  reader,  not  suitable  for  the  nineteenth  century. 
It  is  our  belief  that  many  of  the  present  enlightened  generation 
have  become  oi  full  a<je,  and  know  what  are  the  first  principles  of' 
the  Oracles  of  God,  and  now  need  strong  meat.  We  also  beheve 
that  the  words  of  Paul  are  peculiarly  applicable  to  the  theologian 
of  the  present  age,  and  that  those  who  continue  to  use  milk  are 
unskilful  in  the  Word  of  righteousness,  and  are  as  babes,  mistak- 
ing the  mere  letter  for  the  spirit ;  forgetting  that  the  letter  killeth, 
and  that  the  spirit,  or  the  internal  sense  alone,  gives  life  and  truth. 

It  may  be  said  that  it  is  not  essential  that  we  should  know 
more  definitely  concerning  the  second  coming.  But  to  this  we 
object ;  indeed  from  the  fact  that  many  do  not  know  more  con- 
cerning it,  and  cannot  explain  why  the  words  of  the  Lord  did 
not  take  place  in  the  sense  of  the  letter,  the  authenticity  of  the 
New  Testtiment  is  defied,  and  the  infidel  objects  to  its  inspiration, 
and  lays  hold  of  the  difficulties  concerning  the  advent  as  the  very 
handle  by  which  he  may  scoff  at  the  Christian  religion.  Thus 
Gibbon,  in  his  history  of  the  Roman  Empire,  says,  speaking  of 
the  ancient  Christians,  that  "  in  the  primitive  Church,  the  influ- 
ence of  truth  was  very  powerfully  strengthened  by  an  opinion, 
which,  however  it  may  deserve  respect  for  its  usefulness  and  an- 
tiquity, has  not  been  found  agreeable  to  experience.  It  was  uni- 
versally believed  that  the  end  of  the  world  and  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  were  at  hand.  The  near  approach  of  it  was  preserved 
by  their  earliest  disciples ;  and  those  who  understood  in  their 
literal  sense  the  discourses  of  Christ  himself,  were  obliged  to  ex- 
pect the  second  and  glorious  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  the 
clouds,  before  that  generation  was  totally  extinguished  which  had 
beheld  his  humble  condition  upon  earth,  and  which  might  still 
be  w^itness  of  the  calamities  of  the  Jews  under  Vespasian  or  Ha- 
drian. The  revolution  of  seventeen  centuries  has  instructed  tts 
not  to  press  too  closely  the  mysterious  language  of  prophecy  and 
revelation  ;  but  as  long  as  for  wise  purposes  this  error  was  per- 
mitted to  subsist  in  the  Chm'ch,  it  was  productive  of  the  most 
salutary  effects  on  the  faith  and  practice  of  Christians,  w-ho  lived 
in  the  awful  expectation  of  that  moment  when  the  globe-  itself, 
and  all  the  various  races  of  mankind,  should  tremble  at  the  ap- 
pearance of  their  divine  Judge." — {^See  Vol.  I.,  p.  262.) 


190  THE    SECOND    ADVEXT. 

Again,  because  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word  concerning  the 
second  advent  is  adhered  to  and  taught,  other  difficulties  have 
occurred,  and  will  continue  to  occur.  We  allude  to  the  various 
impostors  who  at  different  times  have  arisen  and  asserted  that 
they  were  the  true  Christ.  Such  persons,  taking  advantage  of 
the  difficulties  of  the  subject,  have  deluded  many,  and  under  the 
guise  of  religion  have  practised  the  greatest  enormities.  There 
are  few  of  our  readers  who  have  not  heard  of  Mr.  Miller,  and 
concerning  his  predictions  in  reference  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
This  person,  no  doubt,  was  sincere  in  his  belief,  and  really 
beheved  the  end  of  all  things  was  at  hand.  To  our  personal 
knowledge,  excellent,  well-meaning  individuals,  even  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  allowed  themselves  to  be  deluded  by  his  seemingly 
rational  calculations.  Such  persons  were  no  hypocrites;  for 
believing  that  the  awful  circumstances  related  in  Revelation 
might  happen  at  any  hour,  they  held  themselves  in  readiness. 
To  such  a  length  did  they  carry  their  belief,  that  (as  is  well 
known)  they  neglected  their  families,  ceased  from  all  labor,  gave 
away  their  property,  and  many  became  inmates  of  insane  retreats. 
Now  -when  a  false  teaching  of  the  literal  sense  of  the  Scriptures 
causes  educated  men  to  proceed  to  such  lengths,  surely,  consid- 
ering other  circumstances  which  have  been  enumerated,  the  time 
has  arrived  when  the  Christian  world  should  know  something 
fixed  and  definite  concerning  the  Lord's  second  coming.  If  not, 
the  natural  inference  would  be,  that  in  time  (and  that  time  not 
far  distant)  the  whole  prediction  would  be  thrown  aside,  or  con- 
sidered as  an  allegory  or  symbol,  which  performed  uses  in  ages 
gone  by,  but  which  at  the  present  time  is  without  meaning,  and 
hence  is  useless.  But  it  is  needless  for  us  further  to  examine 
this  part  of  the  subject ;  sufficient,  we  think,  having  been  said  to 
show  that  it  is  most  irrational  to  suppose  that  the  Son  of  man 
will  come  as  literally  represented ;  and  in  the  ensuing  Section 
an  attempt  will  be  made  to  exhibit  the  true  meaning  of  the 
prophecy. 


SECTION   XII. 

THE  SECOND  ADVENT 


PART      U. 
THE    ARGUMENT    FROM    REASON. 

Having,  as  we  believe,  in  the  preceding  Section  exhibited  the 
irrationality  of  giving  credence  to  the  belief  that  the  Lord  is  per- 
sonally to  appear,  we  Avill  now  proceed  to  examine  our  second 
proposition,  or  whether  it  is  agreeable  to  reason  and  Scripture  to 
believe  that  he  has  already  come — that  his  advent  is  of  a  spiritual 
or  mental  nature,  and  that  by  a  general  diffusion  of  knowledge 
the  world  is  to  be  gradually  regenerated  and  restored. 

In  reference  to  this  subject  we  ask,  Who  is  not  aware  that 
there  is  such  a  spiritual  coming  ?  Who  is  not  sensible  that  God 
at  the  present  era  is  shedding  the  light  of  truth  and  knowledge 
upon  the  minds  of  men  in  a  manner  never  before  known  ?  The 
world,  as  truly  said,  has  aroused  itself  from  the  sleep  of  ages, 
and  noAV  are  plainly  exhibited  the  designs  of  the  Divine  Provi- 
dence. The  agents  now  in  operation  are  the  Steam-Engine,  the 
Prin ting-Press,  the  Steam-Ship,  and  the  Electric  Telegraph. 
These,  with  the  increasing  fecilities  for  diffusing  information  on 
all  subjects,  particularly  concerning  the  Scriptures,  are  the 
mighty  agents  destined  to  revolutionize  the  globe.  And  who 
can  doubt  it  ?  Let  us  briefly  consider,  and  judge  from  what  has 
been,  what  will  be.  What  was  the  state  of  Europe  and  Euro- 
pean civilization  a  few  centuries  ago  ?  It  was,  as  history  informs 
us,  a  state  of  the  greatest  darkness :  the  human  mind  was 
shrouded    in   iofnorance    and    erroi- — the   feudal    svstem   was    iu 


]92  THE    SECOND    ADVENT. 

force — might,  i-egardless  of  justice,  alone  made  right.  That  diffu- 
sion of  learning  among  the  people — that  respect  for  the  law — 
those  arts  and  discoveries  which  are  now  so  essential  to  our  hap- 
piness, even  to  our  existence,  were  unknown.  An  eminent  writer 
infonns  us,  that  so  great  an  ignorance  prevailed  among  all  classes, 
even  so  late  as  the  tenth  centuiy,  that  it  was  rare  for  a  layman, 
of  whatever  rank,  to  know  how  to  sign  his  name.*  Dr.  Robert- 
son mentions  that  Du  Guesclin,  Constable  of  France,  the  great- 
est man  in  the  State,  and  one  c*"  the  greatest  men  of  his  age, 
being  unable  to  read  or  write,  Avas  necessitated  to  affix  a  mark  to 
public  documents  as  his  signature.  The  historian  Macaulay  states, 
that  in  the  sixteenth  centuiy,  so  uncultivated  and  barbarous  was 
public  opinion  in  England,  that  "  less  sympathy  was  excited  by 
the  circumstance  of  a  man's  being  pressed  to  death  for  refusing 
to  plead,  or  a  woman's  being  burned  for  coining,  than  is  now  felt 
for  a  galled  horse  or  an  over-driven  ox." 

There  are  few  things  which  exhibit  more  plainly  the  advances 
civilization  has  made,  than  the  fact,  that  at  the  close  of  the  four- 
teenth centuiy  not  only  was  a  knowledge  of  Astronomy  and  the 
use  of  the  compass  unknown,  but  the  world  was  in  ignorance  of 
the  existence  of  the  Western  continent ;  "  a  knowledge  of  the 
inhabitable  world  being  circumscribed  to  very  narrow  limits,  it 
being  believed  that  France,  Britain,  Spain,  Italy,  Geraiany, 
Arabia,  the  north  parts  of  Africa,  and  the  islands  of  the 
Mediterranean,  composed  the  whole  of  the  world ;  and  even  in 
regard  to  these  countries  several  parts  of  them  were  not  known 
or  inquired  into." 

Again,  if  we  come  down  to  a  later  period,  and  mark  the  prog- 
ress which  has  been  made,  it  can  be  seen  how  much  has  been 
done  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  race,  and  make  man  a  ra- 
tional, thinking  being,  approaching  the  beau-ideal  of  Avhat  he 
should  be.  Thus  in  regard  to  the  subject  of  religion,  how  much 
has  been  done — how  far  superior,  how  much  more  enlightened, 
is  the  public  mind  than  it  was  at  the  era  of  the  Reformation ! 
What  would  be  thought  at  the  present  time  of  a  grave  and  dig- 
nified body  of  men  meeting  together  in  one  of  our  principal  cities, 
and,  after  a  protracted  trial,  condemning^  a  human  being,  one  of 

*  Hallaui,  Middle  Affe?,  chap,  ix,,  p.  271. 


CONTRAST    BETWEEN    THE    PAST    AND    PBESENT.  1^3 

their  own  brethren,  to  be  burnt  ahve,  solely  because  he  differed 
in  reo-ard  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  and  did  not 
believe  in  their  creed  ?  Such  a  proceeding  as  this,  if  it  took 
place  at  the  present  day,  would  cause  a  universal  ciy  of  liorror 
to  echo  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other,  and  the  actors  and 
judges  in  the  horrible  tragedy  would  be  condemned  and  ex- 
ecrated as  beings  unworthy  of  the  name  of  men.  Yet  such  a 
tragedy  as  this  took  place  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century  in  the 
city  of  Geneva,  and  the  perpetrators,  the  judges  who  condemned 
Servetus  to  death,  had  their  decision  approved  and  confirmed  by 
Melancthon,  Calvin  and  others,  the  very  heads  and  founders  of 
the  Protestant  reUgion.* 

If  we  compare  those  times  with  the  era  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, what  a  contrast  is  presented !  So  far  from  the  leaders  of 
the'  chm-ches  being  animated  by  that  cruel  and  vindictive  spirit 
which  existed  in  the  Council  of  Geneva,  we  see,  on  the  contrary, 
the  followers  of  Cahin  preaching  and  exhorting  in  churches  that 
hold  doctrines  similar  to  those  taught  by  Servetus.  Differen- 
ces have  been  so  far  forgotten,  that  religious  denominations  hold- 
ing opposite  views  have  united  and  formed  societies  for  sending 
to  all  parts  of  the  world  the  Bible  free  from  comment.  Even 
the  spirit  of  religious  tolerance  has  extended  itself  so  far,  that 
missionaries  have  been  able  unmolested  to  plant  the  standard  of 
the  cross  in  those  countries  which  for  ages  have  been  wholly  in- 
accessible ;  and  now  it  is  believed  that  the  seed  is  sown,  the 
foundation  laid,  by  which  the  heathen  of  China  and  the  follow- 
ers of  Mahomet  may  be  made  to  abandon  their  belief  and  be  con- 
verted to  the  truths  of  Christianity. 

Again,  if  we  come  down  to  a  still  later  period,  and  mark  the 
progress  of  man's  better  nature,  it  will  be  seen  that  much  has 
been  done.  Thus  let  us  examine  what  was  the  state  of  public  feel- 
ing in  regard  to  the  foreign  slave-trade  fifty  years  ago.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  traffic  was  not  considered  as  disreputable,  and 
the  most  enlightened  of  nations  Avere  engaged  in  it ;  but  now,  so 
great  is  the  change,  that  it  is  considered  as  mfamous,  against  the 
spirit  of  humanity  and  the  age,  and  the  most  stringent  measures 
are  used  to  prevent  it.     Again,  what  a  change  has  been  effected 

*  See  Penny  Cyclopaedia,  article  Servetus. 
13 


194  THE   SECOND   ADVENT. 

in  regard  to  the  use  of  ardent  spirits !  Fifty  years  ago  it  was 
almost  universally  found  on  the  sideboards  of  the  most  respect- 
able. Even  drunkenness  was  considered  as  a  genteel  vice ;  and 
so  far  was  the  use  of  alcohol  carried,  that  it  was  held  to  be  a 
truth  that  the  laborer  could  not  work  without  it,  and  few  ships 
went  to  sea  without  a  supply.  But  such  a  state  of  thbgs,  we 
need  not  say,  is  not  the  case  at  present ;  and  the  pubUc  mind, 
by  means  of  the  numerous  Temperance  Societies,  has  become 
sufficiently  enlightened  to  know  that  more  can  be  endured  with- 
out the  use  of  stimulants  than  with  them  ;  and  that  there  are  few 
things  which  habitually  used  will  sooner  niin  and  prostrate  the 
system.  A  change  has  also  come  over  the  world  in  regard  to 
public  feeling  and  sympathy.  The  time  has  been,  and  not  far 
remote,  when  each  member  of  society  was  Avrapped  up  in  liis 
own  selfish  interests,  caring  little  for  the  neighbor,  and  much  less 
for  those  living  at  a  distance.  But  now,  the  existence  of  numer- 
ous Benevolent  Societies  in  this  country  and  Europe,  societies 
wholly  supported  by  disinterested  individuals,  evince  that  a 
change  has  taken  place  ;  and  those  suffering,  though  of  a  different 
language,  and  oceans  intenene,  find  friends  who  are  ready  to 
sympathize  and  assist.  The  contributions  which  a  few  years 
since  were  sent  from  this  country  to  perishing  Ireland,  afford  a 
good  illustration  of  that  benevolent  spirit  which  is  now  beginning 
to  prevail.  A  few  centuries  ago,  had  an  event  of  this  nature 
occurred,  it  would  have  been  considered  (so  contrary  is  it  to  the 
selfish  principles  which  have  governed)  of  a  fabulous  nature,  and 
as  ha\ing  no  reality  except  in  the  dream  of  an  enthusiast. 

If,  still  further  to  mark  the  progress  of  the  age,  we  examine 
what  improvements  have  been  made  in  regard  to  the  grand  es- 
sential, education,  the  most  superficial  examination  will  show  its 
onward  progress.  The  time  has  now  arrived  in  many  parts  of 
this  favored  land  when  the  childi-en  of  the  most  indigent  can, 
without  expense,  be  fitted  for  a  collegiate  course,  and  acquire  a 
knoivledge  of  the  learned  languages.  A  writer  on  this  subject  in- 
forms us,  that  "  the  discovery  of  the  system  of  Bell  and  Lancaster, 
followed  as  it  has  been  by  various  other  improvements,  has  formed 
a  new  era  in  the  science  of  education,  the  advantages  of  which 
are  now  imparted  to  multitudes  at  a  less  expense  than  was  formerly 
incurred  in  bestowing  them  on  a  few  :  and  bv  establishments  hav- 


TESTIMONIES    ON    THE    SUBJECT.  195 

\ 

ing  this  for  their  object,  these  advantages  are  being  diflfused,  not 
only  throughout  this  favored  country,  but  nearly  through  the 
whole  o-lobe."  He  adds,  that  "  neither  is  the  love  of  knowledge 
and  of  diffusing  it,  which  in  the  present  age  is  so  conspicuous, 
satisfied  with  pro\nding  for  the  instruction  of  the  young.  The 
man  desires  to  perfect  Avhat  the  child  began,  and  thus  Mechanic 
Institutions  and  Literary  Societies  of  various  kinds  have  been 
founded,  and  are  spreading  through  the  land  ;  whilst  by  publica- 
tions containing  the  elements  of  science  in  a  cheap  and  popular 
form,  and  by  cheap  editions  of  literaiy  works  of  established  repu- 
tation, intellectual  cultivation  of  every  species  is  made  accessible 
to  all."* 

A  writer  in  a  late  number  of  the  Westminster  Review,  making 
mention  of  the  advances  which  civihzation  has  made  in  respect  to 
the  healing  art,  says,  that  "  it  is  a  fact  capable  of  demonstration, 
that  since  the  healing  art  reached  that  point  of  cultivation  which 

*  We  take  from  the  New  York  Tribune  the  following  in  respect  to  the 
Belation  between Mucation  and  Crime.  The  writer,  S.  S.  Randall,  Esq.,  in  a 
letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  Tribune,  dated  Albany,  .June  21,  1850,  says  : 

"  It  has  been  frequently  alleged  of  late,  on  the  part  of  opponents  of  uni- 
versal education,  through  schools  free  to  all,  that  the  progress  of  crirae^  in 
our  own  and  other  lands  has  kept  pace  with  the  advancement  and  diffusion 
of  knowledge,  and  that  the  records  of  our  prisons  and  penitentiaries,  if  care- 
fully examined,  would  show  that  a  large  proportion  of  their  inmates  were  from 
the  educated  classes.  I  have  recently  investigated  the  official  returns  made 
to  the  Secretary  of  State  by  the  sheriffs  of  the  several  counties,  of  the  con- 
victions had  in  the  several  Courts  of  Record  throughout  the  State,  and  in 
the  Courts  of  Special  Sessions  in  the  respective  cities,  from  the  years  1840  to 
1848,  both  inclusive,  comprising  a  period  of  nine  years,  and  find  the  follow- 
ing result : 

"The  whole  number  of  persons  returned  as  having  been  convicted  of 
crimes  in  the  several  counties  and  cities  of  the  State,  during  the  periSd  re- 
ferred to,  was  27,949  ;  of  these  1182  were  returned  as  having  received  'a 
common  education;'  414  as  having  'a  tolerahlij  good  education;'  and  128 
only  '  as  well  educated:  Of  the  remaining  26,225,  about  half  were  able 
merely  to  read  and  write.  The  residue  were  destitute  of  any  education 
whatever. 

"Assuming,  therefore,  the  standard  of  the  returning  officer  as  to  what 
constitutes  a  good  education  to  be  correct,  only  128  out  of  nearly  28,000  of 
the  inmates  of  our  prisons  and  penitentiaries  are  from  the  educated  classes; 
and  only  about  one  in  sixteen  had  received  an  ordinary  common-school  edu- 
cation. Facts  like  these  are  worth  more  than  a  thousand  vague  declamations 
as  to  the  efficacy  of  education  with  reference  to  the  progress  of  crime."— 
(See  Trihvne,  1850.) 


J  96  THE   SECOND   ADVENT. 

entitled  it  to  the  name  of  science,  disease  has  been  gradually  de- 
creasing both  in  frequency  and  fatahty."  He  adds,  that  "  it  is 
also  equally  capable  of  proof,  that  the  degree  of  perfection  with 
which  anatomy  has  been  studied  at  any  successive  periods,  may 
be  safely  taken  as  the  rule  by  which  the  progress  of  all  other 
branches  of  the  science  may  be  ascertained." 

If  improvements  have  been  made  in  anatomy,  so  also  in  regard 
to  other  sciences ;  and  a  mere  enumeration  of  the  discoveries  and 
improvements  which  have  been  made  in  agriculture,  in  labor-sav- 
ing machines,  in  astronomy,  chemistry,  geology,  in  the"  steam- 
engine,  the  steamboat,  the  steam-ship,  the  railroad,  the  printing- 
press,  and  the  magnetic  telegraph,  is  sufficient  to  evince  the 
advances  which  have  been  made,  and  the  new  world  in  which  we 

live. 

Now,  if  it  be  true  that  civilization  has  thus  for  past  centuries 
slowly  but  surely  progressed,  and  nobly  fought  its  way  against 
the  empire  of  ignorance  and  barbarism,  and  caused  the  results 
which  are  now  produced,  then  it  is  shown  that  under  the  acceler- 
ating influences  of  the  same  powerful  agencies,  the  world  will 
present  that  glorious  sight  which  for  so  many  ages  has  been  the 
desire  of  the  philanthropist.  We  allude  to  that  epoch  known  by 
some  as  the  Millennium,  that  grand  era  when  ci\-ilization,  slowly 
but  surely  proceeding,  shall  have  so  mehorated  the  social  system, 
so  hastened  the  progress  of  society,  so  e.xpanded  the  mind  of 
man,  that  he  will  obey  Heaven's  laws,  and  love  truth,  justice,  and 
virtue  for  their  own  sakes,  thus  bringing  about  the  era  "  when 
the  dominion  of  ignorance,  physical  force,  and  accidents  of  for- 
tune will  cease  to  rule  the  world  ;  when  beauty,  reason,  science, 
personal  worth,  and  religion  will  come  into  their  rightful  suprem- 
acy :''  when,  as  is  said,  "  the  nations  shall  not  learn  war  any  more, 
and  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  as 
the  waters  cover  the  sea." 

That  such  an  age  is  slowly  approaching,  though  many  obstacles 
may  intervene,  is  to  our  mind  plainly  evident ;  indeed,  to  doubt 
it,  would  be  to  assert  that  the  wonderful  agencies  now  in  opera- 
tion will  cease  to  act,  and  not  produce  the  results  which  they 
have  for  past  centuries  ;  and  though  the  subject  is  a  great  one, 
the  same  calculations  can  be  made,  and  the  same  inferences 
draAvn,  that  would  be  in  respect  to  some  one  country^  or  kingdom 


Cn^ILIZATlON    MUST   ADVANCE.  19\7 

in  which  the  germs  of  civilization  had  been  sowed.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, England  ;  the  seeds  of  civilization  were  planted  about  the 
pei-iod  of  the  Norman  Conqviest,  and  we  now  behold  the  result. 
We  see  that  from  a  society  the  most  degraded  they  have  become 
one  of  the  most  enlightened  ;  that  from  being  subject  to  the 
tyranny  of  a  handful  of  foreigners,  and  the  great  body  of  the 
people  in  a  state  of  personal  slavery,  they  have  freed  themselves  . 
from  the  bonds  of  serfdom,  and  now  enjoy  the  privileges  and 
claim  the  rights  of  freemen ;  that  from  the  most  debasing  super- 
stition, crueltv,  and  ignorance,  which  exercised  an  almost  bound- 
less influence  on  the  public  mind,  it  is  now  the  contrary.  In  a 
word,  we  see  that  "  in  the  course  of  seven  centuries,  this  wretched 
and  degraded  race  have  become  (one  of)  the  greatest  and  most 
civilized  people  the  world  ever  saw."  And  if  this  is  so,  if  this  is  a 
true  narration  of  the  progress  of  civilization  in  Great  Britain,  then 
it  is  rational  to  suppose  that  in  time,  though  it  may  be  many  long 
ages,  the  same  results  will  take  place  in  other  parts  of  the  world ; 
and  the  era  arrive  when  the  inhabitants  of  Asia  and  benighted 
Africa  may  have  the  same  advantages,  the  same  privileges  which 
are  now  enjoj^ed  in  the  United  Kingdom  and  America. 

Such  must  finally  be  the  result  of  civilization  and  of  the  on- 
ward tendency  of  the  age,  or  all  must  retrograde.  And  who  can 
believe  that  it  will  ?  Who  can  believe  that  the  Avorld  is  to  re- 
lapse into  its  days  of  former  ignorance  and  misery  ?  Is  it  to 
be  supposed  that  the  germs  of  civilization  which  were  planted 
in  this  country  on  the  shores  of  New  England,  two  centuries  ago, 
are  to  come  to  naught ;  that  America  is  again  to  become  a  wilder- 
ness, the  abode  of  the  painted  savage  ;  and  our  descendants,  in- 
spired with  madness,  are  to  destroy  all  vestiges  of  modern  civili- 
zation, all  the  inestimable  blessings  by  which  we  are  surrounded  ? 
No  ;  it  cannot  be.  Reason  forbids  it ;  and  an  instinct  superior 
to  reason  tells  us  in  language  not  to  be  misimderstood,  that  this 
is  the  chosen  land — the  happy  country — which  God  in  his  prov- 
idence has  selected  as  the  model  for  others,  and  a  country  whose 
Declaration  of  Independence  will  be  considered  that  of  the  world's, 
and  the  ushermg  in  of  the  new  age.* 

*  Mr.  Guizot  remarks  :  "  The  state  of  things,  both  as  respects  governments 
and  as  respects  men  in  their  relations  with  each  other,  is  improved.  And 
can  there  be  a  question  whether  the  sight  of  this  goodly  spectacle,  v.-hether 


198  THE   SECOND   AD\T:NT. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  advert  more  particulai-ly  to  some 
of -the  discoveries  and  improvements,  social  and  political,  that 
have  appeared  in  the  nineteenth  century,  forming  so  many  evi- 
dences of  God's  glorious  advent,  and  which  are  influencing  the 
popular  mind  ;  and,  fii-st,  mention  will  be  made  of  that  sentiment 
on  which  is  based  the  republican  or  democratic  form  of  govern- 
ment. It  is  evident  when  this  great  doctrine,  or  the  belief  "  that 
all  men  are  endowed  with  certain  unalienable  rights,"  made  its 
appearance,  civilization  received  :«uch  an  impetus  as  it  never  be- 
fore experienced ;  and  with  truth  can  it  be  said,  that  if  it  had 
not  come,  an  improvement  of  the  social  condition  might  be  de- 
spaired of ;  and  we  are  led  more  particularly  to  examine  the  sub- 
ject, as  it  foiTns  one  of  the  strongest  features  of  that  system  of 
tnith  which  we  advocate.  Human  freedom  there,  as  we  have 
shown,  is  earned  to  its  loftiest  ele\ation,  and  it  is  shown  there  is 
no  power  in  heaven  or  earth  that  can  destroy  it.  When  the  flag 
of  liberty  was  first  imfurled,  it  caused  a  imiversal  cry  to  arise 
from  the  supporters  of  the  feudal  system,  and  amid  the  thunders 
of  its  cannon  was  the  obnoxious  creed  contested  ;  yet,  we  think, 
little  is  hazarded  in  saying  that  the  time  is  to  arrive  when  the  New 
Church  doctrine  concerning  absolute  human  freedom  is  to  create 
as  great  a  commotion  in  the  religious  world  as  then  was  produced, 
and  to  the  siirprise  of  the  leaders  of  orthodoxy  and  non-freedom, 
they  will  see  in  opposition  to  them,  and  inscribed  on  its  banner, 


the  melioration  of  this  external  condition  of  man,  will  have  a  corresponding 
influence  upon  his  moral,  his  individual  character — upon  humanity  ?  Such 
a  doubt  would  belie  all  that  is  said  of  the  authority  of  example,  and  of  the 
power  of  habit,  which  is  founded  upon  nothing  but  the  conviction  that  ex- 
terior facts  and  circumstances— if  good,  reasonable,  well  regulated — arc  fol- 
lowed, sooner  or  later,  more  or  less  completely,  by  intellectual  results  of  the 
same  nature,  of  the  same  beauty  ;  that  a  world  better  governed,  better  regu- 
lated, a  world  in  which  justice  more  fully  prevails,  renders  man  himself 
more  just.  That  the  intellectual  man,  then,  is  instructed  and  improved  by 
the  superior  condition  of  society,  and  his  social  condition,  his  external  well- 
being,  meliorated  and  refined  by  increase  of  intelligence  in  individuals  ;  that 
the  two  elements  of  civilization  are  strictly  connected ;  that  ages,  that  ob- 
stacles of  all  kinds  may  interpose  between  them ;  that  it  is  possible  t'ley  may 
undergo  a  thousand  transformations  before  they  meet  together,  but  that 
sooner  or  later  this  union  will  take  place  is  certain;  for  it  is  a  law  of  their 
nature  that  they  should  do  so— the  great  facts  of  liistorj'  bear  witness  that 
such  is  really  the  case — the  instinctive  belief  of  man  proclaims  the  truth.'' — 
Pist.  of  Civilization.^  by  F.  Guizot,  vol.  L,  p.  29. 


ABSOLUTE   FREEDOM    OF   THE    HLMAN    WILL.  1^9 

that  same  sentiment  -which  is  now  heaving  and  agitating  the 
masses  of  Europe,  and  equally  in  vain  will  they  attempt  to  refute 
or  retard  the  great  principle. 

A  belief  in  the  absolute  freedom  of  the  human  will  is  of  the 
last  importance ;  for  it  teaches  that  man,  if  he  so  choose,  can  rise 
from  his  degraded  condition,  and  take  that  rank  in  creation  for 
which  he  was  formed.  The  old  doctrine  teaches  nothing  of  this, 
and  with  its  belief  in  predestination,  fixed  decrees,  and  false  ideas 
of  Omnipotence,  asserts  in  reality  that  man  cannot  rise  from  his 
deplorable  state :  and,  instead  of  informing  him  that  the  cause 
of  his  fall  was  that  he  abused  his  freedom,  affirms  that  the  whole 
thing  is  a  mystery — that  even  the  angels  of  heaven  are  unable  to 
explain  the  enigma.  It  even  strongly  asserts  that  God  could,  if 
he  so  pleased,  have  prevented  the  ruin  of  the  race,  and  could  at 
a  command  regenerate  the  Avhole  earth.  It  is  evident  that  when 
such  ideas  (and  which  may  be  considered  as  the  remnants  of  a 
barbarous  age)  are  preached  and  promulgated  among  the  people, 
they  cannot  be  expected  to  arise  and  recover  their  true  liberty  : 
the  case  being  the  same  as  if  a  nation  believed  that  their  ruler 
had  the  ability,  at  a  word,  to  change  their  barbarism  into  the 
highest  state  of  civilization,  but  Avould  not  because  he  would  not, 
and  therefore  it  was  useless  for  them  to  strive,  for  they  must  wait 
his  pleasure.  How  different  is  the  doctrine  of  absolute  free- 
dom !  for  this  teaches  that  the  Deity  is  a  being  of  love,  and  Avills 
happiness  to  mankind ;  and  that  if  his  children  wish  to  arise  they 
must  co-operate  with  him,  and  like  men  put  their  own  shoulders 
to  the  wheel,  and  thus  bring  about  their  regeneration.  If  a  con- 
trast  is  presented  between  the  follower  of  the  Asiatic  despot  and 
an  American  citizen,  so  also  as  arreat,  and  even  (rreater,  is  the 
contrast  between  the  man  who  has  recovered  his  true  freedom 
and  the  one' who  is  in  the  bonds  of  evil.  The  latter,  tliough  having 
all  the  advantages  of  modem  civilization,  is  still  at  the  call  of  in- 
furiated passions.  The  other  has  exercised  his  freedom,  and  has 
mastered  lust  and  intemperance,  pride  and  arrogance,  and  lailes 
sovereign  supreme  o\'er  his  httle  world,  and  for  a  reward  enjoys 
health,  happiness,  high  mental  culture,  and  already  begins  to  taste 
those  joys  which  once  existed  on  earth,  and  for  Avhich  man  was 
created. 

The  belief  that  a  free  and  republican  fonn  of  government  is 


200  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

the  one  which  is  destined  to  prevail  over  all  others,  appears  to 
be  based  on  grounds  so  strong,  that  it  would  seem  impregnable ; 
yet  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  not  ultimately  destined  to  prevail, 
because  the  experience  of  former  ages  evinces  that  all  such  sys- 
tems of  government  have  finally  fallen,  or  lapsed  into  a  despotism. 
But  this  is  taking  a  superficial  view  of  the  subject.  It  is  true, 
that  in  former  periods  i-epublics  have  proved  a  failure,  yet  it  has 
been  from  the  reason  the  people  were  immersed  in  ignorance, 
and  incompetent  to  select  their  representatives.  But  this  is  not 
the  case  at  the  present  time  ;  for  never,  at  any  period,  has  there 
existed  so  much  intelligence  among  the  democratic  masses  as  at 
present,  and  in  this  consists  their  safety.  Again,  if  it  could  be 
shown  that  in  former  ages  republics  had  existed,  assisted  by  the 
agencies  now  in  operation,  and  had  been  rent  asunder,  then 
might  the  inference  be  drawn  that  such  would  be  the  fate  of 
present  institutions.  But  this  is  not  the  case  ;  and  in  A'ain  is  his- 
tory examined  to  find  recorded  such  agents  as  the  Steam-Engine, 
the  Printing-Press,  and  the  Telegraph. 

M.  De  Tocqueville,  in  his  Democracy  of  America,  affirms,  that 
to  attempt  to  check  democracy  would  he  in  that  case  to  resist 
the  will  of  God.  He  says,  "  The  various  occurrences  of  national 
existence  have  eveiywhere  turned  to  the  advantage  of  democ- 
racy ;  all  men  have  aided  it  by  their  exertions ;  those  who  have 
unintentionally  labored  in  its  cause,  and  those  who  fought  for  it, 
and  those  who  have  declared  themselves  its  opponents,  have  all 
been  driven  along  in  the  same  track — have  all  labored  to  one 
end ;  some  ignorantly,  and  some  xmwillingly — all  have  been  the 
blind  instruments  in  the  hands  of  God. 

"  The  gradual  development  of  the  equality  of  conditions  is, 
therefore,  a  providential  fact,  and  it  possesses  all  the  characteris- 
tics of  a  divine  decree.  It  is  universal,  it  is  durable ;  it  constantly 
eludes  all  human  interference,  and  all  events,  as  well  as  all  men, 
contribute  to  its  progress. 

"  Would  it,  then,  be  wise  to  imagine  that  a  social  impulse 
which  dates  so  far  back  can  be  checked  by  the  eflforts  of  a  gen- 
eration ?  Is  it  credible  that  the  democracy  which  has  annihila- 
ted the  feudal  system,  and  vanquished  kings,  will  respect  the 
citizen  and  the  capitalist  ?  Will  it  stop  now  that  it  has  grown  so 
strong  and  its  adversaries  so  weak  ?"     He  adds  :  "  The  fii-st  duty 


ABSOLUTE    FREEDOM   OF   THE    HUMAN    WILL.  20^1 

which  is  at  this  time  imposed  upon  those  who  direct  our  atlairs, 
is  to  educate  the  democracy — to  warn  its  faith,  if  that  be  possi- 
ble ;  to  purifv  its  morals ;  to  direct  its  energies ;  to  substitute  a 
knowledge  of  business  for  its  inexperience,  and  an  acquaintance 
with  its  true  interests  for  its  blind  propensities ;  to  adapt  its  gov- 
ernment to  time  and  place,  and  to  modify  it  in  compliance  with 
the  occurrences  and  the  actions  of  the  age." 

Nothing  stmck  us  so  forcibly  in  perusing  De  Tocqueville's  ad- 
mirable work,  and  convinced  us  that  a  free  system  of  government 
is  that  which  is  destined  to  bring  about  that  happy  era  when 
God's  will  shall  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,  as  the  obser- 
vations which  he  makes  concerning  the  manner  in  which  law  is 
understood  and  obeyed  in  this  country. 

Thus  he  says,  "  The  European  generally  submits  to  a  public 
officer,  because  he  represents  a  superior  force ;  but  to  an  Ameri- 
can he  represents  a  right.  In  America  it  may  be  said,  that  no 
one  renders  obedience  to  man,  but  to  justice  and  to  lau<." — Vol. 
I.,  p.  97. 

"  Written  laws  exist  in  America,  and  one  sees  that  they  are 
daily  executed ;  but  although  every  thing  is  in  motion,  the  hand 
which  gives  the  impulse  to  the  social  machine  can  nowhere  be 
discovered. 

"  In  Europe,  a  criminal  is  an  unhappy  being,  who  is  struggling 
for  his  life  against  the  ministers  of  justice;  in  America  he  is 
looked  upon  as  an  enemy  of  the  human  race,  and  the  whole  of 
mankind  is  against  him.  The  reason  is,  that  eveiy  one  conceives 
himself  to  be  interested  in  furnishing  evidence  of  the  act  commit- 
ted, and  in  stopping  the  delinquent. 

"  They,  therefore,  do  not  deny  that  every  man  may  follow  his 
own  interest ;  but  they  endeavor  to  prove  that  it  is  the  interest 
of  every  man  to  be  virtuous.  It  is  held  as  a  truth,  that  man 
sei-ves  himself  in  serving  his  fellow-creatures,  and  that  his  private 
interest  is  to  do  good. 

"  He  obeys  the  government,  not  because  he  is  inferior  to  the 
authorities  which  conduct  it,  or  that  he  is  less  capable  than  his 
neio-hbor  of  governing  himself ;  but  because  he  acknowledges  the 
utility  of  an  association  with  his  fellow-men,  and  because  he 
knows  that  no  such  association  can  exist  without  a  regulating 
force."— Vol.  I.,  p.  66. 


202  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

In  the  above  citations,  we  are  informed  that  those  who  now 
form  the  greatest  democracy  that  ever  existed,  consider  it  as  a 
principle  and  rule  which  they  carry  out  in  the  daily  affairs  of  life, 
to  practise  virtue  and  do  good  because  it  is  for  their  interest  to 
do  so.  It  is  stated  that  in  America,  so  far  from  a  citizen  resign- 
ing himself  to  the  tjTannical  sway  of  any  man,  no  matter  of  what 
rank,  he  renders  obedience  alone  to  "justice  and  law." 

Now  if  these  maxims  are  considered,  it  can  be  seen  that  they 
comprise  Avithin  themselves  principles  truly  heavenly,  and  which 
can  alone  bring  about  the  earth's  regeneration.  In  former  peri- 
ods, in  the  days  of  sovereigns,  kings,  and  despots,  it  was  held 
as  a  fundamental  principle,  that  might  alone  made  right,  and  the 
subject  was  bound,  right  or  wrong,  to  obey  his  prince ;  but  now, 
under  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century,  it  is  not  so ;  and  the 
intelligent  masses  will  not  obey  their  rulers  without  a  sound  rea- 
son is  given  Avhy  their  mandates  should  be  obeyed.  The  time  has 
gone  by  when,  at  the  nod  of  a  single  individual,  a  whole  country 
might  be  plunged  into  the  horrors  of  war.  Now,  if  a  great  na- 
tional enterprise  is  to  be  undertaken,  the  subject,  before  it  can  be 
acted  upon,  must  first  be  discussed  by  the  people.  The  effect 
will  be  to  dispel  ignorance  concerning  the  true  manner  of  legisla- 
ting, and  cause  democracies  to  see  that  what  is  for  the  good  of 
one  is  for  the  welfare  of  all.  To  what  a  state  of  intelligence 
must  the  members  of  this  great  democracy  have  arrived,  when 
they  individually  see  that  laws  must  be  obeyed  because  there  is 
a  necessity  for  them  ;  when  the  people  have  become  convinced 
that  order  at  all  hazards  must  be  maintained,  and  consider  the 
criminal  as  an  enemy  of  the  race,  and  one  whom  they  cannot 
allow  to  proceed  at  large  Avithout  detriment  to  the  interests  of 
the  whole !  Such  ideas  ai-e  but  the  reflection  of  Heaven's  laws  ; 
for  we  are  informed  that  there,  one  sees  and  fully  knows,  that 
there  is  a  stem  necessity  that  the  wicked  should  be  separated 
from  the  good — the  criminal  from  the  virtuous.  The  one,  as  in 
this  world,  is  considered  as  the  enemy  of  the  race,  and  whom, 
without  incarceration  and  restraint,  none  could  exist. 

M.  De  TocqucAille  informs  us,  that  the  freemen  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  are  obedient  to  no  other  power  than  to  law  and 
justice.  Swedenborg  states  that  it  is  the  same  in  the  hidden 
world,  and  that  no  angel  bows  to  any  other  authority  than  that 


APPLICATION    OF   STEAM.  203 

which  emanates  from  those  sources.  And  if  this  is  so — if  these 
heavenly  principles  now  exist,  and  are  carried  out  by  a  nation  of 
twenty  millions  of  freemen — then  may  we  truly  believe  that  God's 
kingdom  has  beo-un  to  come  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

In  respect  to  the  influence  which  the  application  of  steam  has 
exerted,  who  cannot  see  that  if  this  mighty  power  had  not  been 
given,  the  progress  of  civilization  would  have  been  put  back  ages  ? 
It  is  as  if  some  supernatural  being,  omnipotent-like,  had  put  forth 
everywhere  a  mighty  arm  to  aid  the  otherwise  feeble  efforts  of 
man.  The  field  in  which  the  steam-engine  has  distinguished 
itself,  has  been  the  field  of  human  labor,  and  it  has  taken  that 
lead  in  those  labor-saving  machines  which  have  done  so  much  to 
meliorate  the  condition  of  man.  In  former  periods,  there  were 
few  or  none  of  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  modem  civiliza- 
tion, and  the  consequences  Avere,  the  race  was  enveloped  in  the 
gloom  of  barbarism ;  but  when,  at  the  era  of  the  Crusades,  a  ray 
of  light  shone  upon  Europe,  and  her  inhabitants  became  ac- 
quainted with  labor-saving  machines,  and  from  them  procured 
•  some  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  then  the  European  began  to  be  a 
different  beingf — his  savage  and  uncouth  nature  became  softened. 
He  ceased  to  regard  every  stranger  as  his  enemy,  saw  that  it  was 
necessar}'  for  his  veiy  existence  to  respect  the  great  law  of  right 
and  wrong,  and  not  plunder  all  who  were  not  his  adherents  ;  and 
coming  from  his  almost  inaccessible  castle,  he  threw  aside  his 
armor  and  Aveapons,  and  associated  himself  with  his  fellow-men. 

Nothing  shows  more  plainly  what  labor-saAing  machines  have 
done,  than  to  mark  the  influence  which  steam  navigation  has 
exerted  in  America.  With  truth  it  may  be  said,  that  it  has  put 
us  forward  as  a  nation  many  centuries.  Before  it  was  brought 
into  use,  civilization  was  confined  to  the  sea-board,  and  more  than 
three-fourths  of  the  Union  presented  an  almost  impenetrable  for- 
est ;  and  access  to  the  Western  States  was  almost  impossible, 
except  to  the  hardy  hunter,  and  it  was  rare  that  the  voice  of  the 
white  man  was  heard.  But  now,  what  a  change !  So  far  from  it 
being  difficult  to  visit  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  other  parts  of  the  great 
West,  they  are  accessible  to  all.  So  far  from  it  being  difficult  to 
transport  Aveighty  merchandise  and  goods,  they  are  transported 
thousands  of  miles  in  the  interior  with  the  utmost  facility.    So  far 


204  THE   SECOND   ADVENT. 

from  the  rapid  and  turbulent  waters  of  the  Ohio,  the  Illinois,  and 
Mississippi  forcing  all  before  them,  and  rendermg  navigation  im- 
practicable, except  to  the  hardy  boatman  or  canoe  of  the  Indian, 
they  are  now  accessible ;  the  power  of  steam  has  baffled  the 
river-god,  and  now,  regardless  of  wmd  or  tide,  fleets  of  steam- 
boats filled  with  busy  crowds  daily  ascend.  Look,  also,  at  what 
steam  has  done  in  respect  to  the  na\-igation  of  our  Western  lakes. 
Without  the  use  of  steam-vessels,  the  settlement  of  those  States 
borderinof  on  Lakes  Ontario,  Ene,  and  Michigan,  would  have 
been  retarded  for  years,  and  in  vain  would  the  traveller  have 
sought  for  those  prosperous  villages  and  opulent  cities  which  now 
meet  his  eye.  It  is  observed,  that  "  steam  na\ngation  is  to  the 
continent  of  America  what  the  circulation  is  to  the  human 
frame ;"  and  with  tioith  the  observation  is  made ;  for  it  is  an  ac- 
celerating and  vital  powei-,  without  which  neither  could  tliis 
country  thrive,  nor  ci\alization  advance. 

Labor-sa\ing  machines,  such  as  the  steam-engine,  seem  in  par- 
ticular to  be  given  to  us  that  they  may  take  upon  their  untiring 
shoulders  the  weight  of  labor,  and  thus  relieve  the  masses  from 
grievous  toils  and  burdens,  and  give  them  time  to  cultivate  their, 
higher  nature.  That  such  is  to  be  the  result,  that  such  now  in 
no  small  degree  is  eflfected,  is  imdeniable ;  and  there  are  thou- 
sands, little  as  they  may  reflect,  who  owe  the  manv  advantages 
which  they  enjoy  to  Fulton's  invention :  and  particularly  do 
these  remarks  apply  to  the  emigrant  from  the  Old  World  ;  for  to 
them  the  discovery  of  steam,  of  the  railroad  and  steamboat,  are 
of  vital  importance ;  for  without  them,  even  if  landed  on  om* 
shores,  they  could  never  convey  their  families  to  the  Western 
wilds — never  would  have  found  a  home  in  a  free  country,  and 
must  have  lived  and  died  subject  to  the  bonds  of  servitude  and 
ignorance. 

We  might  go  on  to  make  further  mention  concerning  the  prog- 
ress of  the  steam-engine,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  it  has 
accelerated  civilization ;  but  having  access  to  an  article  in  the 
New  Englander,  in  which  the  subject  is  so  ably  deUneated,  that 
without  further  observation  on  our  part  we  present  it  for  the 
reader's  consideration. 

It  is  obserAed,  that  "  another  great  change  tending  to  make 
a  new  earth — a  change  in  the  physical  powers  which  minLster  to 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  ^■K^V  ENGLANDEK.        2(^5 

the  welfare  of  mankind — a  change  Avhich,  though  it  is  but  just 
beginning  to  operate,  has  ah-eady  affected  beyond  all  calculation 
the  entire  condition  of  the  world,  and  is  evidently  going  on  to 
affect  more  and  more  the  political,  "Social,  and  moral  destiny  of 
the  human  race  within  the  limits  which  the  moral  is  subject  to 
the  influence  of  the  physical — is  the  change  that  was  involved  in 
that  invention  by  which  the  mechanical  force  of  steam  was  ap- 
plied to  the  use  of  man,  and  became  a  mighty  agent  for.  the 
advancement  of  man's  welfare  in  this  world.  When  Watt,  some 
eighty  years  ago,  perfected  the  steam-engine  and  gave  it  to  man- 
kind in  the  form  in  which  it  is  now  employed  for  countless  uses, 
it  was  as  if  God  had  sent  into  the  world  a  legion  of  strong  angels 
to  toil  for  man — a  thousand  achievements  which  human  hands 
could  never  have  accomplished,  even  with  the  aid  of  such  powers 
of  nature  as  were  previously  known  and  mastered.  The.  earth 
Avith  the  steam-engine  in  it,  and  with  all  the  capabihties  which 
belong  to  that  mighty  instrument  for  aiding  the  industry  and 
multiplying  the  comforts  of  mankind,  is  a  new  earth,  far  better 
than  the  old  as  the  dwelling-place  of  man — far  better  fitted  in  its 
physical  arrangements  for  the  universal  establishment  of  the  king- 
dom of  Christ,  or  in  other  words,  for  the  universal  prevalence  of 
knowledge,  liberty,  righteousness,  peace,  and  salvation. 

"  There  is  one  grand  apphcation  of  steam  as  a  mechanical  power 
which  was  little  dreamed  of  when  the  steam-engine  was  invented, 
but  which  is  already  doing  more  than  all  the.  other  applications 
of  that  power  to  create  a  new  earth.  The  changes  which  God 
is  now  working  in  the  Avorld  by  the  agency  of  steam  applied  to 
locomotion  in  the  water  and  on  the  land,  are  such  that  no  Chris- 
tian mind  can  think  of  them  but  with  a  wonder  that  compels  the 
soul  to  worship.  And  at  the  present  moment,  that  particular 
object  of  attention  cannot  but  aiTCst  the  thoughts  of  those  who 
look  to  see  the  manifestations  of  God's  power  and  plan  in  the 
movements  of  the  years.  Not  only  in  all  parts  of  New  England 
and  the  Atlantic  States,  but  even  in  the  distant  West,  long  lines 
of  railway  communication  have  either  been  recently  constructed, 
or  are  soon  to  be  completed.  Swift  steamboats,  crowded  with 
travellers,  or  freighted  with  the  most  valuable  of  merchandise, 
and  increasing  from  one  year  to  another  in  number  and  power, 
are  constantly  passing  along  the  whole  extent  of  our  coast  from 


206  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

Maine  to  Texas — are  ploughing  the  great  lakes  that  are  linked  to 
each  other  in  a  chain  so  wonderful,  from  the  Ontario  to  the  vast 
Superior — are  i-ushing,  regardless  of  the  currents,  along  all  our 
great  navigable  rivers,  and  most  of  all,  along  that  mightiest  of 
rivers  which  pours  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  the  mingled  streams 
of  half  the  continent.  From  the  chief  ports  of  our  foreign  com- 
merce, lines  of  steam-ships  are  crossing  and  recrossing  the  ocean 
with  the  regularity  of  ferry-boats.  And  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  the  same  application  of  steam  is  producing  the  same 
changes  as  here.  The  steamboat  is  continually  passing  along 
the  coasts  and  rivers  of  Europe,  and  there,  as  here,  long  lines  of 
railway,  stretching  from  realm  to  realm,  are  bringing  all  parts  of 
the  continent  into  close  connection.  The  steamboat  is  plough- 
ing the  ancient  waters  of  the  Mediterranean ;  it  is  ascendingr  the 
Nile ; .  it  is  on  the  Red  Sea ;  it  is  in  the  waters  of  India  and  of 
China ;  and  in  those  populous  empires  of  Eastern  Asia,  there  will 
soon  be  the  roar  and  rushing  of  the  mighty  engine  on  the  rail- 
way. 

"  All  this  is  the  progress  of  onlj^  forty-one  years  since  the  first 
successful  steamboat,  an  object  of  mingled  wonder  and  ridicule, 
Avas  launched  on  the  Hudson ;  and  of  only  nineteen  years  since 
the  first  successful  locomotive  began  its  course  upon  the  railway 
between  Manchester  and  Liverpool.  The  progress  has  been 
gradual,  indeed,  and  yet  it  has  been  so  rapid  that  from  time  to 
time,  as  some  additional  change  presents  itself,  we  are  astonished 
to  find  in  what  a  new  world  we  are  living.  During  the  memora- 
ble year  (1848)  just  closed,  how  have  we  been  surprised  with 
the  sense  of  our  new  proximity  to  the  countries  beyond  the 
ocean !  It  is  as  if  the  great  events  in  Europe  had  happened  just 
upon  our  borders.  We  seem  to  hear  the  thunder  of  her  battles, 
and  the  roar  of  re\  olutions  in  her  capitals.  God,  in  the  progress 
of  his  work  of  restoration,  is  creating  a  new  earth  in  which  to 
achieve  the  last  triumphs  of  his  kingdom." 

Dr.  Bushnell,  in  his  brilliant  discourse  concerning  Roads,  and 
their  assistance  in  realizing  "  the  magnificent  hopes  now  set  be- 
fore us,"  makes  the  following  observations  : 

"  The  Road  is  that  physical  sign,  or  symbol,  by  which  you  will 
best  understand  any  age  or  people.     If  they  have  no  roads,  they 


DR.  BUSHNKLL    ON    KG  ADS. 


2b7 


are  savages,  for  the  road  is  a  creation  of  man  and  a  type  of  civil- 
ized society. 

"  It  is  clear  enough  that  a  new  age  of  roads  has  come,  and  the 
world  is  waking  up  to  do  something.  The  days  of  Shamgar,  the 
son  of  Anath,*  are  ended,  and  the  people  of  walled  towns  and 
castles  are  coming  out  to  build  roads.  They  build  not  merely 
roads  of  earth  and  stone  as  of  old,  but  they  build  iron  roads. 
And  not  content  with  horses  of  tlesh,  they  are  building  horses  of 
iron,  such  as  never  faint  or  lose  their  breath,  and  go  withal  some- 
what faster  even  than  the  Roman  post — not  to  speak  of  the  im- 
mense loads  they  whirl  over  mountains  and  through  them,  from 
mart  to  mart,  and  from  one  shore  to  another.  We  have  invented, 
too,  another  kind  of  sail  which  runs  against  the  wind  or  away 
from  it,  stemming  tides  and  climbing  currents,  making  roads 
through  oceans,  and  changing  the  great  inland  sluices  of  the 
world  into  paths  of  commerce  and  travel.  And  where  we  cannot 
go  bodily  to  speak  ourselves,  we  send  out  newspapers  as  the  posts 
of  tliought,  setting  every  man  to  talking  with  every  other,  so  that 
all  which  the  great,  good  men  are  doing  and  planning  is  known 
to  everybody,  and  all  that  oppressors  and  knaves  do,  or  will  do, 
is  exposed,  execrated,  and  if  any  shame  is  left,  shamed  out  of  the 
world. 

"  Nor  is  this  all :  we  have  produced  still  another  new  kind  of 
road,  which  outstrips  all  the  horses,  whether  of  flesh  or  of  iron — 
a  road  for  thought ;  which,  when  we  get  complete,  the  world  will 
become  a  vast  sensorium,  spinning  out  its  nerves  of  cognition  and 
feeling,  and  keeping  the  whole  body  apprised  in  every  limb  and 
member  of  what  the  electrive  organ  meditates  ;  whatever  else  we 
may  think,  or  hope,  or  fear,  it  is  quite  certain  that  this  is  an  age 
of  roads.  //'  the  Shamgar s  of  conservatism,  looking  out  of  the 
loop-holes  of  their  toalled  toions,  and  seeing  so  many  people  out 
whirling  through  the  air,  are  frightened  hy  the  sight,  fearing  lest 
all  the  tmlls  of  stability  and  defence  are  going  to  break  way,  still 
the  roads  will  be  built  and  the  motion  will  go  on.  Wise  or  un- 
wise, the  world  has  taken  it  into  its  head  to  have  roads,  and 

*  "  In  the  days  of  Shamgar,  the  son  of  Anath,  in  the  days  of  Jael,  the 
liighways  were  unoccupied,  and  the  travellers  walked  through  by-ways." 
— Judges  V.  6. 


208  THE   SECOND   ADVENT. 

there  is  a  destiny  in  it,  against  which  remonstrance  is  unavailable. 
Indeed,  they  need  not  go  to  their  battlements  or  loop-holes  to 
see  it,  for  this  destiny,  good  or  bad,  has  already  broken  through 
their  walls.  Many  a  time  within  the  last  year  have  I  seen  the 
railroad  forcing  the  parapets  and  buttresses  of  walled  cities,  and 
sending:  in  the  iron  horse  of  travel,  in  thunder  and  smoke,  to  its 
very  centre.  I  never  knew  so  well  before  what  that  word  destiny 
means  ;  for  here  I  have  seen  the  new  age  breaking  through  the 
old  ;  power  reversing  all  its  intents  ;  and  human  society,  by  some 
fiat  of  God,  compelled  to  unwrap  the  coil  of  its  jealousies  and 
fears  to  seek,  as  a  good,  what  their  fathers  erected  to  save  their 
bodies." 

After  giving  a  history  of  all  known  roads  from  the  most  ancient 
times  down  to  the  present  era,  and  exhibiting  the  part  which  they 
have  exercised  towards  accelerating  the  progress  of  civihzation, 
and  which  he  believes  is  to  result  in  filling  the  world  with  Chris- 
tian light  and  beauty,  and  unite  all  Christendom  in  a  common 
effort  to  fill  the  Avorld  with  the  light  of  Emmanuel,  he  adds  in 
conclusion,  "  Such,  briefly,  are  the  magnificent  hopes  that  are  now 
set  before  us  in  the  prospect  of  the  coming  ages.  Wliat  forms  of 
social  beauty  may  be  realized,  what  structures  of  art  may  be 
raised,  what  works  of  genius  created,  by  the  renovated  wealth, 
intelligence,  and  piety  of  the  world,  I  will  not  stop  to  conceive. 
Enough  to  know — what  transcends  all  such  conjectures,  and  lises 
in  the  mind  as  the  summit  of  all  grandeur  and  sublimity — that 
Christ  the  Lord  shall  ascend  into  his  throne,  and  reign  in  the 
moral  majesty  of  peace  and  righteousness  over  admiring  nations." 

In  respect  to  the  influence  which  the  printing-press  has  ex- 
erted, and  is  now  exerting,  it  can  at  a  glance  be  seen  that  it  is 
truly  one  of  the  greatest  of  auxiliaries.  In  former  periods,  in  the 
days  of  the  robber-chivalry,  learning  was  confined  to  a  few,  and 
who  chiefly  used  it  to  keep  the  masses  in  subjection,  and  draw 
more  closely  the  bonds  of  serfdom  ;  but  now,  particularly  in  this 
country,  the  case  is  directly  the  opposite  ;  the  fount  of  knowledge 
has  so  far  opened  and  spread  itself,  that  it  is  difticult  to  find  a 
native-born  citizen  who  cannot  both  read  and  write ;  and  so  far 
from  power  being  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  it  is  in  the  possession  of 
those  who  formerly  were  so  much  despised.     They  now,  from 


THE    PKINTING-PEES8.  209 

beino-  the  ruled,  are  the  rulers  and  sovereigns  of  the  age.  One 
grand  result  of  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing  is,  that  it  pre- 
vents valuable  discoveries  from  being  lost,  and  carries  down 
to  coming  generations  all  their  forefathers  have  accomplished. 
Such  was  not  the  case  in  years  gone  by.  Then,  if  a  valuable  dis- 
covery Avas  made,  the  author's  ideas  were  confined  to  a  single  or 
few  manuscripts,  to  which  access  was  difficult,  and  which  at  the 
death  of  their  originator  were  frequently  lost  or  mislaid,  never  to 
be  recovered  ;  and  this  is  of  no  small  moment,  for  if  the  same 
thing  now  occurred,  and  it  was  not  in  our  power  to  leave  to  those 
who  are  to  come  after  us  the  improvements  which  have  been 
made,  civilization  would  go  back  rather  than  onward,  and  the 
education  of  society  would  not  progress.  But  as  it  is,  the  print- 
ing-press has  multiplied  so  many  copies,  giving  an  accurate  de- 
scription of  all  that  has  been  done,  as  to  render  it  almost  impossi- 
ble that  all  should  be  destroyed ;  and  so  faithfully  acts  its  part, 
that  now  not  even  a  single  valuable  thought  is  lost  to  the  world. 
Thus,  coming  generations  start  at  the  very  point  at  which  their 
ancestors  left  off,  and  our  children  have  not,  with  infinite  diffi- 
culty, to  rediscover  those  principles  by  which  they  are  enabled  to 
construct  the  steam-ship,  or  use  the  compass ;  these  inventions, 
and  others  of  like  nature,  stand  ready  for  them,  and  thus  the 
progress  of  civilization  is  accelerated. 

A  printing-press  is  of  itself  a  surprising  exhibition  of  what  the 
human  powers  are  capable.  A  press  of  the  present  era,  that  is, 
one  with  the  last  improvements,  has  an-ived  at  such  a  state  of 
perfection  that  it  has  been  known  to  print  three  thousand  copies, 
each  containing  as  much  as  a  small  volume,  in  fourteen  minutes, 
or  at  the  rate  of  12,857  the  hour!  What  a  contrast  does  this 
present  to  the  tedious  process  of  manuscript  writing !  In  truth, 
a  press  of  the  nineteenth  centuiy  can  perform  more  work  in  a 
single  hour  than  an  army  of  10,000  scribes  could  effect  in  the 
same  time.  Perfection  like  this  is  unequalled,  and  but  shows  the 
mighty  power  which  God  in  his  providence  has  placed  in  the 
hands  of  man  for  the  diftusion  of  knowledge. 

Another  new  auxiliary  has  sprung  up  with  the  printing-press, 
and  without  which  it  could  hardly  succeed  ;  we  allude  to  the 
method  of  disseminating  information  by  the  agency  of  newspapers. 
This  means  of  spreading  knowledge  is  of  almost  incalculable  im- 


210  THK   SKCOND    ADVENT. 

poiliinco.  A  nowsp;ij)cr  is  superior  to  a  bound  book  from  its 
lightness,  its  dicapnoss,  and  tlie  case  with  which  it  can  be  sent 
to  any  distance.  Those  advantafrcs,  joined  with  others,  cause  it 
at  tlic  pn^scnt  time  to  be  tlic  <j;r.ind  means  by  whidi  information 
on  all  subjects  is(;xtend(!d  ;  indeed,  the  ell'cct  of  it  on  some  occa- 
sions is  almost  mngical ;  lor  let  a  startling  incident  occur  in  any 
part  of  Ihe  Union,  and  hoW  quickly  does  it  spread  !  The  ncwB- 
p;i|)er  (Mjnveys  the  information.  It  gives  us  the  most  minute  par- 
ticuhirs.  We  are,  as  it  were,  at  the  very  place  ;  and  if  a  crime  has 
been  committed,  ar<'  anxious  to  see  the  laws  ui)held  ;  or  if  a  rob- 
bery or  outnige,  our  sympathies  are  enlisted  with  the  sufferers. 
It  prevents  the  csciipe  of  the  criminal,  and,  from  fear  of  exposure, 
deters  others  fnun  following  alike  course;  cautions  us  against 
the  villiiin,  and  thus  ellecluiilly  sustains  society.  The  power 
which  it  ex(!rts  in  inlluenciiig  |)ul)lic  opinion  is  without  precedent; 
and  there  are  many,  vast  multitudes,  who  rarely  read  any  thing 
else  but  a  newspaper,  their  o|)inions  being  wholly  formed  from  a 
perusid  f)f  its  columns.  A  writer  in  regard  to  this  subject  states, 
"that  the  insc  and  cheiipness  with  which  papers  are  sent  from 
one  |)Mrt  of  the  country  to  the  other,  give  them  ;in  inlluence 
which  is  ne;irly  irresistible."  He  says,  "The  inlluence  of  a 
preacher  over  his  congregation  is  limited  compared  to  a  power 
enjoining  jmhlic,  oi)inion  like  this ;  and  thiit  it  would  require 
Jill  the  sacred  ;issociiitions  that  belong  to  il,  with  the  closest 
h;il)itual  parochiid  ministerings  of  its  servjuits,  for  th(!  pulpit  to 
hold  its  own  for  a  moment  against  the  otluu- merely  as  rival  hom- 
ilists." 

l?y  menns  of  the  Printing-Press  another  agent  has  made  its 
appearance,  which  is  (lestii\ed  to  perform  an  im[)ortant  part  in 
accomplishing  (lod's  ])urposes,  and  which,  even  in  this  age  of 
wonders,  is  now  but  little  thought  of.  We  alludes  to  Phonogniphy, 
or  that  science  by  which,  in  an  incredible  short  space  ol  time, 
one  is  able  to  report  verlnitim,  on  a  singles  sheet  of  paper,  a  dis- 
course or  debate  which  would  occupy  [)ages  and  hours  if  written 
in  the  or(lin;n\  manner.  It  is  our  belief  that  the  lime  is  coming, 
though  far  distant,  when  this  science  will  be  gen(Mally  taught. 
If  this  should  occur,  and  it  be  understood  as  w(rll  as  the  present 
manner  of  writing,  which  is  not  impossible,  then  will  arrive  the 
period  when  valuable  works  which  are  now  too  voluminous  and 


THE    ELECTRIC    TELEGRAPH.  211 

expensive  for  general  circulation,  and  which  are  kept  from  the 
majority,  will  be  disseminated :  a  time  in  which  a  library  printed 
after  the  phonographic  manner  can  be  made  one's  travelling 
companion — a  time  when  the  Scriptures  could  be  printed  in  a 
volume  one-sixteenth  of  its  present  size,  and  could  be  sent  to 
every  quarter  of  the  globe. 

It  is  stated  that  a  knowledge  of  the  science  can  be  acquired 
with  far  greater  facili.ty,  and  in  less  time,  than  a  knowledge  of  the 
present  manner  of  spelling,  reading,  and  writing  ;  and  that  a  letter 
sent  to  a  Phonographer  in  any  part  of  the  globe,  could  be  read 
by  him  with  as  much  ease  as  one  reads  the  common  method  of 
writing.  It  is  added,  alluding  to  the  rapidity  with  which  pho- 
nography may  be  written,  that  "  some  Phonographers  have  writ- 
ten more  than  two  hundred  words  in  a  minute,  while  public 
speakers  do  not  generally  exceed  one  hundred  and  twenty  words 
in  a  minute."* 

But  the  wonder  of  the  age — the  miracle  of  miracles — that 
which,  above  all,  gives  best  evidence  of  the  new  age  and  of  the 
heavenly  light  now  descending,  is  the  Electric  Telegraph.  The 
results  which  this  agent  has  accomplished  are  such  as  to  lead  the 
mind  to  believe  that  there  are  no  bounds  to  human  progress.  At 
this  moment  we  have  a  paperf  which  states  that  in  the  space  of  a 
few  seconds  a  communication  has  been  sent  from  New  York  to  the 
city  of  New  Orleans,  a  distance  of  2300  miles,  and  an  answer  re- 
ceived ! !  A  circumstance  of  this  nature  can  hardly  be  realized, 
and  well  may  it  be  said  that  this  generation  has  that  revealed  to 
them,  which  many  prophets  and  righteous  men  have  desired  to 
see,  and  which  has  been  kept  secret  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  The  field  in  which  the  Telegraph  is  to  act,  and  in  which 
it  will  be  the  great  co-operator  and  laborer  in  every  undertak- 
ing and  cause  beneficial  to  the  best  interests  of  mankind,  is,  that 
it  will  and  does  annihilate  space  and  time,  and  in  doing  this  it  al- 
most accomplishes  every  thing  ;  for  it  has  lengthened  man's  days, 
and  gives  him,  what  is  more  valuable  than  all  other  things,  time 
not  only  to  prepare  for  his  own  high  destiny,  but  to  finish  those 
great  plans  by  which  the  regeneration  of  the  earth  is  to  be  com- 
pleted. 

*  Sec  Introduction  to  the  Phonographic  Reader,  by  Andrews  &  Boyle, 
t  See  Tribune,  T>ec.  3,  1851. 


212  THE    SECOND    ADVENT. 


In  former  times,  no  nation  has  continued  to  enlarge  its  domin- 
ions except  eventually  to  fall  to  pieces ;  and  one  reason  has  been, 
because  the  central  government  could  not  communicate  with  the 
distant  provinces  until  it  was  too  late  to  remedy  the  difficulty. 
But  it  is  not  so  at  the  present  time.  A  government  might  be 
made  to  extend  over  a  whole  continent,  taking  in  its  embrace 
myriads.  The  same  railroad  which  conveyed  representatives 
from  distant  States,  might,  if  the  occasion  required,  speedily  be 
made  to  convey  stores,  ammui-ition,  and  troops  to  the  disaffected 
province ;  and  by  the  assistance  of  the  Electric  Telegraph,  com- 
munications could  be  sent  regardless  of  distance,  and  with  the 
greatest  promptitude. 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  which  in  former  ages  bound  the 
minds  of  the  race  in  a  night  of  darkness,  and  prevented  God's 
will  being  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,  has  not  only  been 
ignorance,  but  ignorance  of  each  other — prejudices,  jealousies, 
and  false  accounts  of  travellers  having  separated  one  nation  from 
another ;  but  now,  with  such  agents  as  the  telegraph,  the  rail- 
road, and  steam-ship,  the  inhabitants  of  distant  countries  will 
with  the  greatest  facility  be  enabled  to  visit  each  other,  and  by  a 
friendly  intercourse  and  exchange  of  thought,  do  away  with  those 
prejudices  which  have  so  long  made  them  strangers ;  and  they, 
like  one  great  family  (in  an  assembled  congress  of  nations),  will 
see  that  theu-  interests,  both  in  regard  to  war,  peace,  and  trade, 
are  inseparable,  and  cannot  be  injured  without  prejudice  to  all. 
Already  has  the  Congress  of  this  country  been  petitioned  for  the 
purpose  of  extending  the  iron  lines  of  the  Telegraph  from  this 
country  to  Europe,  and  which,  when  done,  will  link  in  still  closer 
ties  the  two  hemispheres,  and  be  an  achievement  to  which  the 
wonders  of  an  Eastern  tale  bear  no  comparison.* 

*  Dr.  Lardnersays:  "  Nothing  facilitates  and  develops  commercial  rela- 
tions so  effectually  as  cheap.and  rapid  means  of  intercommunication.  When, 
therefore,  all  nations  shall  be  found  more  intimately  connected  with  each 
other  by  these  means,  they  wiU  inevitably  multiply  their  exchanges,  and  gen- 
eral commerce  will  undergo  great  extension^  mutual  interestVill  awaken 
moral  sympathies,  and  will  lead  to  political  alliances.  After  havinc^  for  ao'es 
approached  each  other  only  for  war,  .people  will  henceforward  visit  e'ach  other 
tor  purposes  of  amity  and  intelligence,  and  old  antipathies,  national  and 
pohtical,  which  have  so  long  divided  and  rained  neighboring  States,  will 
speedily  vanish.  But  if,  in  spite  of  this  general  tendencv  towards  pacific 
progress  and  peace,  war  should  occasionally  break  out,  the  improved  means 


THF.    AVOED    OF    GOD.  213 

But  great  as  are  the  influences  whicli  such  agencies  have  ex- 
erted, there  is  still  one  power  which  has  not  been  mentioned,  and 
without  which  the  civilization  and  regeneration  of  the  earth  might 
be  despaired  of;  and  tliis  great  agent  is  the  illuminated  Word  of 
God.  Yet  when  the  subject  is  slightly  examined,  it  appears  this 
could  not  be,  and  that  the  Bible  was  not  in  the  present  enlight- 
ened period  to  be,  as  once,  the  Rock  of  Ages,  and  the  grand 
source  from  which  all  further  improvement  was  to  emanate ;  and 
the  reason  given  for  this  belief  is,  that  the  age  has  outgrown  the 
Bible,  and  it  is  filled  with  that  which  is  not  only  contradictory  to 
reason,  but  to  modern  discoveries.  Such  an  inference  we  will 
admit  is  seemingly  sound — yet  it  is  the  greatest  of  fallacies,  and 
founded  upon  a  most  superficial  view  of  the  subject,  and  igno- 
rance of  those  g'eat  principles  upon  which  the  Bible  is  con- 
structed. As  before  shown,  it  is  evident  that  under  the  heavenly 
light  Avhich  has  been  given,  we  have  been  taught  that  the  Bible 
is  written  in  a  figurative,  or  allegorical  manner,  and  has  contained 
within  its  inspired  pages  two  senses :  one  for  the  nations  who 
have  gone  by,  and  another  for  the  present  race — the  one  literal, 

of  intercommunication  will  aid  in  bringing  it  to  a  prompt  close.  A  single 
battle  will  decide  tlie  fote  of  a  country,  and  the  longest  war  will  be  probably 
circumscribed  within  a  few  months.  .  .  . 

"  Nor  is  this  all.  The  aspirations  of  the  present  generation  after  the  spread 
of  knowledge  and  the  advancement  of  mind,  unsatisfied  with  a  celerity  of 
transmission  so  rapid  by  the  railway,  which  literally  has  the  speed  of  the 
wind,  has  provoked  from  human  invention  still  greater  wonders.  The  Elec- 
tric Telegraph,  for  the  transmission  of  intelligence,  in  the  most  literal  sense  of 
the  word,  anniJiilates  both  sj?ace  and  time.  The  interval  which  elapses  between 
the  transmission  of  a  message  from  London  and  its  delivery  at  Edinburgh, 
provided  the  line  is  uninterrupted,  is  absolutely  inappreciable. 

"  This  system  is  now  spreading  throughout  the  whole  civilized  world.  The 
United  States  of  America  are  overspread  with  a  net-work  of  electricity.  The 
President's  message  delivered  at  Washington,  was  transmitted  from  thence 
to  St.  Louis,  on  the  confines  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  a  distance  of  about 
1200  miles,  in  an  hour.  The  news  from  Europe,  arriving  at  Boston  by  the 
Cunard  steamers,  is  often  transmitted  to  New  Orleans,  over  almost  the  en- 
tire territory  of  the  United  States  from  north  to  south,  a  distance  of  nearly 
2000  mOes,  in  less  time  than  would  be  necessary  to  commit  it  to  paper. 
Even  the  small  delay  that  now  exists,  arises,  not  from  any  imperfection  in 
the  instrument  of  transmission,  but  merely  from  the  line  of  electric  commu- 
nication being  interrupted  from  point  to  point,  and  transferred  from  one  sys- 
tem of  telegraphs  to  another,  at  several  intermediate  stations.  After  im- 
provements shall  remove  such  delays  as  these,  we  shall  probably  see  intelli- 
gence conveyed  in  an  instant  over  a  quadrant  of  the  globe." — Railway 
Economy.  1850,  Chap.  1.  pp.  3S.  30. 


214  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

and  for  those  who  cannot  understand  otherwise,  and  the  other 
spiritual,  and  intended  for  more  enhghtened  generations.  This 
hidden  sense  of  the  Bible  is  to  exert  a  greater  influence  than  the 
veiled  Scriptures  ever  have  done,  because  it  reveals  those  princi- 
ples and  laws  upon  which  all  things  are  sustained.  It  explains 
the  arcana  of  man's  life,  and  shows  more  clearly  than  ever  the 
means  which  are  to  be  used  for  his  regeneration.  It  exhibits, 
disconnected  from  allegory  and  symbolical  representation,  the 
nature  and  certainty  of  future  rewards  and  punishments,  and  in- 
forms us  that  the  time  is  to  come  when  to  doubt  the  existence  of 
the  spiritual  world,  and  its  connection  with  this,  would  be  like 
doubting  the  existence  of  the  ground  on  which  we  stand.  And  it 
would  appear,  that  if  such  a  belief  should  spread,  and  it  were 
known  that  the  universal  Father  ruled  by  fixed  and  unchangeable 
laws — that  he  was  ever  striving  to  reclaim  fallen  man — that  not 
even  a  mother's  love  for  her  child  was  greater  than  his  for  his 
children,  even  for  those  who  disobey  him,  then  an  entire  change 
would  come  over  the  world,  a  new  influence  would  be  brought 
to  bear,  and  the  enlightened  freeman  of  the  nineteenth  century 
would  hesitate  before  continuing  that  course  w^hich  he  unerringly 
knew  would  consign  him  to  future  imhappiness.  It  would  ap- 
pear that  such  a  belief  would  arouse  the  very  energies  of  his 
nature  for  a  dying  struggle  with  his  foe — a  struggle  which  would 
not  be  ended  until  he  had  conquered  his  evil  nature,  laid  his 
dread  enemy  at  his  feet,  and  was  ready  and  willing  to  pass  from 
this  existence  into  another. 

But  one  of  the  chief  uses  which  the  illuminated  Word  of  God 
is  to  perform,  is  to  build  up  a  new  Church  and  new  religion, 
from  which  is  to  be  derived  an  armorj'  of  truths  by  which  the  at- 
tacks upon  Christianity  can  be  resisted.  As  it  is  now,  as  we  have 
before  shown,  the  old  school  of  theology  is  powerless,  and  can  do 
little  or  nothing  in  defending  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  resisting  the  attacks  of  its  formidable  adversaries.  And  the 
case  is  so  much  the  more  deplorable  from  the  fact  that  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Bible  is  not  only  assailed  by  avowed  infidels,  but 
also  by  others,  even  by  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  who,  while  seem- 
ingly upholding  it,  are  secretly  and  insidiously  doing  all  in  their 
power  to  overturn  it.  Now  the  new  Church  puts  it  out  of  the 
power  of  these  secret  and  open  enemies  doing  any  lasting  injury 


mFLrEXCE   OF    RELIGION.  215 

to  the  interests  of  religion,  and  weakening  our  belief  in  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  Scriptures ;  for  it  places  it  on  an  immutable  basis, 
and  shows  that  those  passages  which  were  formerly  held  to  be 
real  ti-uths  are  not  so,  and  thus  avoids  the  objections  which  skep- 
tics have  apparently  with  reason  urged. 

The  illuminated  Word  is  also  to  exert  a  great  influence,  be- 
cause it  shows  the  best  manner  in  which  a  country  can  be  gov- 
erned, and  gives  a  constitution  which,  if  obeyed,  cannot  be  over- 
turned. Thus  it  teaches  that  a,  government  must  base  its  system 
of  legislation  upon  revelation,  and  as  far  as  possible  copv  after  the 
laws  by  which  heaven  is  ruled.  It  exhibits  that  the  grand  prin- 
ciples by  which  society  is  sustained  have  all  arisen  primarilv  from 
a  belief  in  religion,  and  particularly  concerning  a  life  after  death, 
and  future  rewards  and  punishments  ;  and  that  just  in  proportion 
as  religion  is  sustained,  so  in  the  same  degree  are  the  laws  upheld 
and  the  welfare  of  society  promoted.  It  is  held  to  be  a  truth 
that  the  influence  of  religion  extends  itself  so  far,  that  as  a  general 
rule,  the  honesty  and  integrity  of  every  individual  can  be  tested 
by  an  examination  of  those  views  which  he  holds  in  regard  to  re- 
ligious and  moral  subjects,  and  that  the  character  and  tendency 
of  those  principles  are  exhibited  in  his  daily  conduct  and  dealinos 
with  his  fellow-men. 

But  it  may  be  thought  that  we  have  overrated  the  influence 
which  religion  exerts,  and  that  natural  agencies,  such  as  the  print- 
ing-press, the  magniiicent  steam-ship,  and  the  fast-speedino-  lo- 
comotive and  telegraph,  are  to  do  more  towards  accelerating  the 
progress  of  civilization ;  but  to  the  observant  mind,  though  their 
influence  is  of  incalculable  importance,  yet  it  is  inferior  to  that 
which  religion  exerts ;  for  it  is  known  that  its  appearance  and  as- 
pect are  of  the  last  importance,  and  most  truly  prophesy  of  the 
weal  or  woe  of  one's  country  ;  that  it  is  the  master-spirit  Avhich 
in  all  ages  has  moved  the  minds  of  men  ;  that  which  caused  the 
patriarch  Abraham  to  cease  from  his  idolatrous  worship,  and  be- 
come the  medium  by  which  a  new  dispensation  might  be  given  ; 
that  which  caused  the  nations  of  the  East  to  abandon  the  shrines 
of  Moloch,  Diana,  and  others,  and  cease  from  human  sacrifices ; 
that  which  caused  Europe  to  be  one  mighty  camp,  and  send  forth 
myriads  for  the  rescue  of  the  Holy  Land  ;  that  which  caused  tht- 
European  masses  to  believe  that  God  has  no  respect  of  person. 


216  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

and  to  bid  defiance  to  the  feudal  system,  and  >vhich  ended  in  the 
establishment  of  liberty  in  this  country ;  that  which  has  exerted 
more  influence  upon  the  literature  of  the  age  than  all  other  things 
put  together ;  and  is  that  which  conclusively  proves  its  superiority 
to  other  faiths,  from  the  i-eason  that  those  countries  who  uphold 
it  are  far  superior  to  all  others,  not  only  m  regard  to  protection 
afforded  Ufe  and  property,  but  in  every  art  and  improvement. 
And  we  need  not  add,  that  it  is  that  great  principle  which  is  to 
conjoin  and  mingle  itself  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  spirit  of 
our  leo-islators,  until  it  shall  complete  what  it  has  begun,  and 
with  the  Word  of  God  inscribed  upon  its  banner,  go  on,  by  the 
resistless  power  of  its  tniths,  conquering,  until,  as  is  said,  "  the 
whole  world  shall  know  the  Lord  from  the  least  to  the  greatest." 

We  have  been  not  a  little  surprised  to  see,  that  while  it  is 
generally  admitted  that  a  new  age  has  made  its  appearance,  and 
that  the  Millennium  is  slowly  but  sm-ely  coming,  that  credence 
should  be  given  to  the  literal  sense  of  that  pai't  of  the  Book  ol 
Revelation,  which  makes  mention  of  the  Millennium  and  of  the 
personal  reign  of  Christ,  and  that  after  the  thousand  years'  reign 
the  earth  should  relapse  back  into  its  former  state  of  misery  and 
wretchedness.  To  us  such  a  belief  appears  as  most  irrational, 
and  which,  if  true,  would  make  the  Creator  -without  a  purpose  or 
plan.  The  belief  fairly  stated  is,  that  God  for  the  past  six  thou- 
sand or  more  years  has  exerted  his  omnipotence  for  the  express 
purpose  of  regenerating  the  earth  and  civilizing  and  enlightening 
mankind  ;  and  even  to  accomphsh  this,  the  greatest  and  mightiest 
of  undertakings,  has  himself  appeared  as  its  Saviour ;  yet,  not- 
withstanding all  these  efforts,  these  superhuman  aids  (which  have 
been  vmceasingly  operating  for  ages),  the  whole  are  to  come  to 
naught,  and  after  the  thousand  years  Satan  is  to  be  released 
from  the  bottomless  pit,  and  allowed  to  proceed  at  large,  and 
the  Avorld  to  become  as  barbarous,  uncivilized,  and  wicked  as 
ever ! 

It  may  be  said  in  reference  to  this  so-called  orthodox  belief, 
that  the  years  mentioned  are  not  such  periods  of  time  as  we  have 
at  the  present,  but  that  each  day  is  reckoned  as  signifying  a  year^ 
and  hence  Avould  e.xtend  the  Millennium  360,000  years  at  least.' 
But  this  is  a  most  extraordinary  explanation,  for  why  should  the 


THE    SECOND    ADVENT    SPIRlTtTAL.  217 

literal  sense  of  one  part  of  the  passage  be  admitted  and  not 
the  other  ?  And,  indeed,  what  reason  can  be  given  to  show  that 
the  whole  narration  is  not  written  in  a  figurative  and  allegorical 
manner  ?  Dr.  Scott,  in  his  well-known  Commentaries,  gives  us  to 
understand  that  it  is  not  to  be  taken  in  the  sense  of  the  letter,  but 
as  a  description  in  the  highest  degree  figurative  and  allegorical. 
Thus  he  says  (speaking  of  the  Apocalypse),  "  The  whole  book  is 
enio-matical  and  full  of  emblems,  so  that  a  literal  exposition  would 
often  imply  absurdity,  and  the  interpreter's  business  and  skill 
consist  principally  in  deciphering  hieroglyphics."  He  adds  (mak- 
ing mention  of  Christ  and  of  those  who  should  reign  with  him  a 
thousand  years),  that  "  he  is  led  to  believe  that  Christ  will  not 
come  down  from  heaven  personally  to  reign  on  earth,  but  that  he 
will  reign  spiritually  in  the  prevalence  of  his  Gospel,  and  by  his 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  men  in  general." 

Now,  if  so  eminent  a  writer  as  Scott  admits  he  is  led  to  believe 
that  this  advent  is  not  to  be  understood  in  its  literal  sense,  and 
that  Christ  will  not  come  down  from  heaven  personally  to  reign 
on  earth,  but  will  reign  spiritually  in  the  prevalence  of  his  Gos- 
pel, and  by  his  Holy  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  men  in  general,  why, 
we  ask,  is  there  any  thing  so  irrational  in  believing  that  his  second 
great  advent  will  be  of  the  same  spiritual  nature  ?  The  narration 
in  the  literal  sense  concerning  the  coming  of  Christ,  and  of  his 
reigning  with  the  saints  a  thousand  years,  is  as  plain  and  definite 
as  that  spoken  of  when  it  is  said,  at  the  sound  of  a  great  trum- 
pet, accompanied  by  chariots  and  horsemen,  he  is  to  appear  and 
judge  the  earth.  Can  it  be  said  that  one  is  more  allegorical  than 
the  other?  It  cannot,  for  the  reason  that  the  circumstances 
which  it  is  aflirmed  will  accompany  the  second  great  advent  are 
even  more  improbable  than  those  related  of  the  other ;  yet  both, 
according  to  every  rule  of  interpretation,  should  be  viewed  alike ; 
and  which,  if  done,  shows  there  is  no  sound  reason  for  believing 
the  Son  of  man  is  personally  to  appear. 

Many  eminent  writers,,  seeing  the  inconsistencies  and  absurdities 
which  are  attached  to  the  literal  narration  concerning  the  second 
coming,  liave  adopted  a  belief  similar  to  that  which  we  have  en- 
deavored to  show  to  be  the  true  one.  Thus,  Dr.  Channing,  in 
his  memorable  discourse  in  Berkshire,  beautifully  speaks  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  second  advent :  "  There  are  some  among  us  at 


218  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

the  present  moment  who  are  waiting  for  the  speedy  coming  of 
Clirist.  They  expect  before  another  year  closes  to  see  him  in  the 
clouds,  to  hear  his  voice,  to  stand  before  his  judgment-seat. 
These  illusions  spring  from  misinterpretation  of  Scripture  lan- 
guaqe.  Chiist,  in  the  New  Testament,  is  said  to  come  whenever 
his  religion  breaks  out  in  new  glory  or  gains  new  triumphs.  He 
came  in  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  He  came  in 
the  destruction  of  .Jerusalem,  which,  by  subverting  the  old  ritual 
law  and  bi-eaking  the  power  of  the  worst  enemies  of  his  religion, 
insured  to  it  new  victories.  He  came  in  the  reformation  of  the 
Church.  He  came  on  this  day  four  years  ago,  when,  through 
his  religion,  eight  hundred  thousand  men  were  raised  from  the 
lowest  degradation  to  the  rights,  and  dignity,  and  fellowship  of 
man.  Christ's  outward  appearance  is  of  little  moment  compared 
wath  the  brighter  manifestation  of  his  Spirit.  The  Christian 
whose  inward  eyes  and  ears  are  touched  by  God,  discerns  the 
coming  of  Christ,  hears  the  sound  of  his  chariot-wheels  and  the 
voice  of  his  trumpet  when  no  other  perceives  them.  He  discerns 
the  Saviour's  advent  in  the  dawning  of  higher  truth  in  the  world, 
in  new  aspirations  of  the  Church  after  perfection,  in  the  prostra- 
tion of  prejudice  and  error,  in  brighter  expressions  of  Christian 
love,  in  more  enlightened  and  intense  consecration  of  the  Chris- 
tian to  the  cause  of  humanity,  freedom,  and  religion.     Christ 

COMES  IN  THE  CONVERSIOX,  THE  KEGENERATION,  THE  EMANCIPA- 
TION   OF    THE    WORLD."* 

In  the  above  citation  (and  others  of  the  same  nature  might  be 
given),  it  can  be  seen  that  C banning  did  not  believe  that  the  time 
would  ever  arrive  when  Christ  would  appear  in  person,  and  that 
literally  we  should  listen  to  the  sound  of  his  chariot -wheels,  or 
hear  the  voice  of  his  trumpet,  but  that  such  an  advent  was  of  a 
spiritual  nature,  and  which  would  distinguish  itself  by  the  dawn- 
ing of  higher  and  more  exalted  truths,  and  by  (as  truly  said)  the 
diffusion  of  brighter  expressions  of  Christian  love,  and  bv  the 
conversion,  the  regeneration,  the  emancipation  of  the  world. 

*  Ilowitt's  Journal,  vol.  ii.,  p.  232. 


SECTION    XII, 

THE  SECOND  ADVENT. 


PART     III. 

THE    SCRIPTURAL    ARGUMENT. 

Having  proceeded  thus  far  with  our  observations,  and  shown 
that  it  is  agreea])le  with  reason  to  beheve  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
second  advent  teaches  that  "  God  is  not  to  come  down  from 
heaven  personally,  but  is  to  reign  spiritually  by  the  prevalence  of 
the  Gospel,  and  by  his  Holy  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  men  in  gen- 
eral;" and  that  by  a  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  the  world  is 
gradually  to  be  regenerated  and  restored ;  we  shall  now  proceed 
to  exhibit  what  is  more  important  than  all,  namely,  what  the 
Scriptures  have  to  say  in  respect  to  the  ultimate  redemption  of 
the  earth ;  and  whether  it  is  true  that  there  are  to  be  found  in 
the  Holy  Oracles  numerous  and  repeated  passages  and  texts 
which  inform  us,  that  not  only  now  is  the  period  of  the  Lord's 
advent,  but  also  that  it  is  to  be  of  a  spiritual  or  mental  nature. 

Properly  to  exhibit  the  views  of  the  new  dispensation,  we  shall 
first  examine  the  memorable  words  of  the  Saviour  in  respect  to 
the  subject,  as  recorded  in  Matt.  xxiv.  On  this  occasion  the  dis- 
ciples, wishing  to  know  concerning  his  second  advent,  asked 
numerous  questions,  and  what  should  be  the  sign  of  his  coming. 
As  we  have  shown  in  a  preceding  part  of  this  Section,  the  Saviour, 
when  thus  interrogated,  drew  a  veil  over  his  words,  and  answered 
them  in  a  figurative  manner,  even  apparently  informing  them 
that  he  should  come  in  their  lifetime ;  and  that  there  "  were 
some  standing  before  him  who  should  not  taste  of  death  till  they 
saw  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom." 


220  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

Now  as  it  is  undeniable  that  he  did  thus  answer  them,  the  ques- 
tion arises,  What  did  the  Sa\-iour's  prediction  have  reference  to  ? 
Had  it  any  meaning  besides  that  of  the  mere  letter  ?  That  it  had 
is  obnous  from  the  fact,  that  if  it  is  asserted  it  had  not,  then 
the  prediction  would  be  shown  to  be  false,  and  unworthy  of  its 
author.  This  being  the  case,  the  mquiry  is.  How  shall  we  be  able 
to  interpret  the  figurative  language,  and  how  know  that  the  in- 
terpretation which  Swedenborg  gives  can  be  reUed  upon  ?  To 
this  we  reply  by  a  reference  to  other  parts  of  the  Scriptures. 
Thus  we  have  shown  that  a  tree  in  the  Holy  Oracles  is  often  figu- 
ratively used  to  denote  a  man,  as  is  also  a  serpent  to  represent 
evil  or  evil  spirits,  and  the  right  hand  of  Jehovah  omnipotence. 
Now  if  one  part  of  the  Scriptures  can  admit  this  kind  of  in- 
terpretation in  certain  passages — passages  which,  without  being 
thus  construed,  would  be  wholly  iiTational — so  also  can  the 
same  rules  be  apphed  to  interpreting  the  figurative  language 
of  the  Lord  concerning  his  second  advent.  The  Saviour  on  this 
occasion  informed  his  disciples,  that  at  his  coming  not  only  should 
Jerusalem  be  overthrown,  and  not  one  stone  of  the  buildings  of 
the  temple  be  left  that  should  not  be  thrown  down,  but  also  that 
signs  and  wonders  should  be  witnessed,  that  there  should  be 
earthquakes,  and  the  sun  should  be  darkened,  and  that  the  stars 
should  fall  from  heaven.  Swedenborg  informs  us  that  these 
words,  when  rightly  understood,  have  reference  to  the  present 
Christian  Church,  and  designate  the  time  when  it  should  come  to 
an  end  or  consummation ;  and  when  not  one  stone  of  its  great 
buildings,  i.  e.  of  its  erroneous  doctrines,  which  should  not  be  thrown 
down. 

But  let  us  examine  whether  it  is  true  that  Jerusalem  in  other 
parts  of  the  Scriptures  is  figm*atively  used  to  represent  the 
Church.  That  it  is  so,  is  repeatedly  evinced.  Thus  in  Isaiah 
hi.  1,  2  :  "Awake,  awake,  0  Zion!  put  on  thy  garments,  0  Je- 
rusalem, the  city  of  holiness,  because  henceforth  there  shall  no 
more  come  into  thee  the  uncircumcised  and  the  unclean.  Shake 
thyself  from  the  dust,  arise  and  sit  down,  0  Jerusalem  !  There- 
fore my  people  shall  know  my  name." 

Again  :  "  Break  forth  into  joy,  sing  together,  ye  waste  places 
of  Israel ;  for  Jehovah  hath  comforted  his  people,  he  hath  re- 
deemed Jerusalem:''     Also  in  chap.  li.  3  :  "  Jehovah  will  comfort 


JERUSALEM    DENOTES    THE    CHURCH.  22' 

Zion,  he  will  turn  her  desert  into  Eden,  and  her  T\-ildeniess  into 
the  garden  of  God."  "Thus  saith  Jehovah  thy  Redeemer,  Say  to 
Jerusalem,  Thou  shalt  be  inhabited." — Is.  xliv.  "  Then  ye  shall 
know  that  I,  Jehovah,  am  thy  God  dwelling  in  Zion,  the  mountain 
of  holiness ;  and  Jerusalem  shall  be  holiness  ;  and  it  shhll  come 
to  pass  in  that  day,  the  mountains  shall  drop  new  wine,  and  the 
hills  shall  flow  with  milk,  and  Jerusalem  shall  remain  from  gen- 
eration to  generation." — Joel  iv. 

In  the  above  passages,  and  manv  of  the  same  nature  can  be 
given,'^*  it  can  be  seen  that  the  Church  was  frequently  alluded  to 
under  the  name  of  Zion  or  Jerusalem.  That  this  was  the  case, 
and  that  the  Jerusalem  mentioned  was  not  the  city  Avhich  the 
Jews  possessed,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  it  is  literally  said 
that  Jerusalem  should  put  on  its  garments,  should  shake  the  dust 
from  itself,  arise  and  sit  down,  and  its  moimtains  should  drop 
new  wine,  and  the  hills  flow  with  milk  and  hone}-.  It  is  also 
exhibited  from  the  fact  that  the  Jews  construed  similar  passages 
in  the  literal  sense,  and  expected  not  only  that  none  of  the  unclean 
or  uncircumcised  (or  heathen)  should  enter  Jerusalem,  but  also 
that  "  a  conquering,  reigning,  glorious  I^Iessiah  would  come,  who 
was  to  subdue  and  control  all  nations,  and  with  whom  tliey  ex- 
pected to  reign  in  his  splendid  court." 

That  Jerusalem  signifies  a  Church,  is  not  only  evinced  from 
what  is  said  concerning  the  New  Jerusalem  in  Revelation,  and 
which  is  generally  admitted  signifies  the  period  when  b  true  reli- 
gion will  be  promulgated,  but  it  is  also  shown  from  the  reason 
that  there  are  few  theologians  who  do  not  use  the  word  Zion  (and 
which  is  nearly  synonymous  with  Jeinisalem)  to  signify  a  Church. 
Thus  a  writer,  making  mention  of  the  present  state  of  religion, 
says :  "  There  is  almost  a  perfect  agreement  in  this,  an  undix-ided 
sentiment,  that  Zion  mourns  and  all  her  interests  languish,  under 
the  hidings  of  the  face  of  her  King."  It  cannot  be  supposed 
that  this  writer  had  reference  to  the  city  of  Jerusalem — the  Zion 
of  the  Jews ;  but  it  can  be  readily  seen  that  he  made  allusion  to 
the  present  state  of  the  Church,  which  he  asserts  mourns  and 
languishes  in  all  her  interests.  The  distinguished  lexicographer, 
Noah  Webster,  confirms  the  above,  and  informs  the  reader  that 

*  See  further,  Isaiah  iv.  2,  3 ;  xxxiii.  20 ;  xxiv.  23  ;  xxxvi.  32  ;  1  vi.  10,  14. 
Zech.  viii.  8,  23.     Mieah  iv.  1,  2.     Jer.  iiL  17.     Mai.  iii.  4.     Ps.  cxxii.  1,  7. 


222  THE   SECOND   ADVENT. 

Zion  designates  a  theocracy,  or  Church  of  God.  Dr.  Scott,  in 
his  well-knoAvn  Commentaries,  making  mention  of  the  great  city- 
described  in  Rev.  (xi.  8),  and  which  is  supposed  by  some  com- 
mentators to  signify  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  says  he  is  led  to 
believe  that  "  it  does  not  mean  Jerusalem  literally,  but  Jerusalem 
mystically  ;  that  is,  the  professing  Church  of  God  as  possessed 
by  the  Gentiles,  and  so  become  the  rival  of  Sodom  in  lewdness, 
and  of  Egypt  in  cruelty  to  the  children  of  God." 

We  mifjht  adduce  other  evid'^nce,  but  it  is  needless ;    and  if 

o 

it  has  been  shown  that  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  Jerusalem, 
or  Zion,  in  the  Scriptures  signifies  the  Church  of  God,  and  ne- 
cessarily the  Christian  Church,  then  the  question  arises,  Whether 
it  has  come  to  a  consummation  or  end,  and  if  it  be  true  that  its 
sun  is  darkened  and  its  stars  have  fallen  ?  That  it  is  so,  that  its 
sun  has  set,  will  be  our  endeavor  to  exhibit.  And  first,  let  us 
consider  what  is  designated  by  the  Christian  Church.  As  we 
understand  the  definition,  it  represents  both  the  Catholic  and 
Protestant  Churches.  To  affirm  that  one  was  the  Church  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  other,  would  be  unjust ;  as  not  only  do  both 
claim  to  be  the  trae  Church,  but  also  profess  the  religion  of 
Christ,  and  acknowledge  him  to  be  the  great  source  from  which 
they  sprung.  Now  the  inquiry  arises.  Is  it  true  that  the  Church 
is  in  the  same  condition  and  state  that  it  was  w^hen  it  was 
foimded  ?  Have  its  members  that  undaunted  faith,  that  burn- 
ing zeal,  which  animated  the  primitive  Christians"?  That  they 
have  not  is  evident  from  the  slightest  examination ;  and  so  far 
from  the  Church,  even  that  known  as  the  Protestant,  exhibiting 
that  zeal,  that  faith,  which  caused  the  followers  of  the  Saviour  to 
leave  father,  mother,  bi'other,  and  sister  for  truth's  sake,  to  sacri- 
fice all,  and  even  endure  the  most  agonizing  of  deaths,  we  see  the 
contrary  ;  we  see  lukewarmness  and  irreligion  ;  we  see  members 
of  the  Church  keeping  their  religion  for  the  Sabbath,  and  on 
other  days  exhibiting  tlieir  real  character.  We  see,  from  this 
cause,  the  Church  brouglit  into  disrepute  bv  the  woi-ldly.  We 
behold  magnificent  temples  erected,  which  are  wholly  inaccessible 
to  the  indigent  and  worthy.  We  see  theological  students  enter- 
ing the  ministry  from  the  same  motives  which  would  lead  them 
to  pursue  any  other  profession.  We  see  one  of  the  most  eminent 
members  of  the  Church  confess,  "there  never  was  a  time  when  a 


THE    CHURCH    CONSUlVrMATKn.  2-23 

doubt  or  denial  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  was  so  slight 
a  barrier  to  admission  to  the  ministry."  Wesee  another  confess- 
ing and  publicl}'  declaring  that,  in  all  his  experience,  he  can 
scarcely  recollect  a  case,  in  which  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  has 
made  a  change  except  it  was  from  lower  to  higher  salaries,  from 
less'  cultivated  to  more  fashionable  communities.  We  see  the 
Church  without  unity,  divided  into  numerous  sects,  the  number 
of  which  is  increasing,  and  who  each  claim  the  pre-eminence. 
We  see  our  religious  journals,  even  those  belonging  to  the  Church, 
affirming  that  "  the  peace  of  God  has  gone,  that  office-bearers 
are  at  their  business,  that  the  prayer-meeting  is  chilly  and  thin, 
that  devotion  is  at  its  lowest  ebb,  that  the  ministry  are,  -with  few 
exceptions,  cold  and  intellectual ;  and  that  there  is  almost  a  per- 
fect agreement,  an  undivided  sentiment,  that  Zion  mourns  and  all 
her  interests  languish."  And  if  this  is  so,  if  we  have  exhibited 
that  Avhich  is  undeniable,  then  it  is  shown  that  for  all  useful  pur- 
poses, i.  e.,  for  the  great  one  of  emancipating  and  regeneratino- 
the  world,  the  Church  has  come  to  a  consummation,  or  end.  It 
is  true,  its  palaces  and  great  buildings  now  proudly  exalt  them- 
selves ;  yet,  as  well  known,  this  is  not  that  which  constitutes  the 
Church  of  God.  The  lofty  fanes  and  cathedrals  of  the  Catholics 
now  greet  the  eye ;  yet,  as  is  admitted,  it  is  but  an  external  reli- 
gion ;  that  good,  the  River  of  the  Water  of  Life,  which  is  to  be 
for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  cannot  spring  from  it,  and  that  vir- 
tually, under  the  influences  of  the  new  age,  its  sun  has  set.  So 
also  with  the  Jewish  and  Mahometan  religion  ;  its  minarets,  tem- 
ples, and  synagogues  can  be  found,  yet  it  is  without  vitality  and 
has  come  to  an  end.* 

The  time,  as  we  have  shown  in  a  preceding  Section,  has  ai-rived 
when,  for  the  necessities  of  the  age,  a  new  religion  should  be  es- 
tablished— a  Church  whose  members  are  not  only  intelligent,  but 
sincere  ;  a  Church  which,  putting  aside  a  sensuous  philosophy, 
will  be  able  to  cope  with  the  skepticism  of  the  age,  and  able  to 
give  its  religious  instructors  a  key  by  which  they  may  be  able  to 
understand  the  Scnptures  and  interpret  its  mystical  words.  As 
it  is  now,  as  well  known,  the  difficulties  in  respect  to  the  Holy 
Oracles  are  such,  that  it  is  a  sealed  book  to  multitudes ;    and  if 

*  See  further  concerning  the  end  of  the  Church  in  the  Appendix. 


224  THE   SECOND    ADVEKT. 

the  words  of  an  intelligent  clergyman  can  be  relied  upon,  one 
with  whom  we  are  personally  acquainted,  and  who  is  now  con- 
nected with  the  Church,  there  are  those  who  call  themselves 
masters  in  Israel,  who  confess  that  so  great  is  the  discrepancy  of 
opinion  in  the  interpreting  of  the  Scriptures,  that  they  cannot 
satisfy  themselves,  or  obey  the  command  which  requires  fhem 
"  to  be  always  ready  to  give  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  them." 

The  prophecy  of  the  Saviour  concerning  the  end  of  the  Church 
informs  us,  that  when  the  abomination  of  desolation  spoken  of  by 
Daniel  the  prophet  shall  be  found  standing  in  the  Holy  place, 
then  shall  the  end  be.  Thus  as  is  said  in  Matthew  (xxiv.  15)  i 
"  When  ye,  therefore,  shall  see  the  abomination  of  desolation 
spoken  of  by  Daniel  the  prophet,  stand  in  the  Holy  place  (whoso 
readeth  let  him  understand),"  for  then,  it  is  added  in  verse  21, 
"  there  shall  be  great  tribulation  ;  .  .  .  and  then  shall  the 
sun  be  darkened,  and  the  Son  of  man  shall  be  seen  coming  with 
power  and  great  glory." 

By  the  abomination  of  desolation  standing  in  the  Holy  place, 
is  designated,  as  is  admitted,  a  period  when  the  truths  of  the 
Christian  religion  should  become  so  perverted  that  no  one  could 
comprehend  them ;  or,  as  is  said,  "  unless  those  days  were  short- 
ened no  flesh  could  be  saved."  And  we  ask.  Has  not  this  period 
an-ived?  Are  there  not  doctrines  taught  in  the  old  Church 
which  are  not  only  incomprehensible,  but  abhorrent  to  reason? 
That  there  are,  is  plainly  e^^dent.  Thus  at  the  present  period  it 
is  taught  in  the  old  Church,  from  a  falsification  of  the  Scriptures, 
that  there  are  three  Gods,  or  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and 
God  the  Holy  Ghost ;  that  one  God  would  not  be  reconciled  to, 
or  pardon  his  creatures,  until  his  only  Son  endured  an  agonizing 
death,  and  when  this  was  accomplished  then  his  anger  and  wrath 
was  propitiated ;  that  God  the  Father  imputes  the  righteousness 
or  merits  of  his  Son  to  some,  and  on  such  terms  as  he  will,  even 
to  the  impenitent ;  that  works  are  not  absolutely  necessary  for 
salvation  ;  that  reason  should  remain  subject  to  faith. 

Doctrines  like  these  (and  they  can  be  found  incorporated  in  all 
the  creeds  and  devotional  works  of  the  old  Church)  have,  as  Swe- 
denborg  truly  remarks,  not  only  caused  the  skeptic  to  sneer  at  the 
Holy  Oracles,  and  doubt  whether  any  revelation  ever  was  given, 
but  also  have  raised  a  wall  of  iron  around  the  Christian  religion, 


FALSE   DOGMAS    PREVALENT.  226 

preventing  even  those  who  wish  to  enter  from  adopting  or  receiv- 
ing its  truths.  The  fact  that  some  of  our  rehgious  papers,  even 
those  devoted  to  the  Church,  inform  us  that  the  question  concern- 
ing the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  is  soon  to  become  the  most 
absorbing  question  of  Christian  theology,  is  alone  sufficient  to 
show  wliat  such  teachings  have  accomphshed,  and  that  this  is  the 
period  when  the  words  of  the  ancient  prophecy  are  fulfilled. 

Dr.  Johnson,  making  mention  of  the  Trinity,  says  that  "it  is  an 
incomprehensible  mystery."  Another  distinguished  theologian, 
Dr.  Barnes,  alluding  to  the  doctrine  of  a  limited  atonement,  and 
of  imputing  the  sin  of  one  man  to  another,  and  holding  that  other 
personally  answerable,  and  of  confining  the  original  application  of 
the  blood  of  Christ  to  the  elect  alone,  says :  "  It  is  unlike  the 
common  sense  of  men,  and  there  is  no  analogy  to  it  in  all  the 
dealings  of  God  towards  sinners  ;  in  the  sunbeam,  in  the  dew,  the 
rain,  in  running  rivailets  or  oceans."  Dr.  Channing,  alluding  to 
the  same  subject  (and  he  is  a  writer  who  has  never  been  accused 
of  lacking  that  great  essential,  charity),  says  that  the  Calvinistic 
manner  of  explaining  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  (and  which 
is  found  in  the  creeds  of  those  churches  who  call  themselves  or- 
thodox) "  is  a  s}'stem  which,  if  true,  would  charge  the  universal 
Father  with  a  cruelty  not  surpassed  in  the  annals  of  the  world, 
and  that  history  would  record  no  darker  crime."  Views  like 
these,  coming  as  they  do,  not  from  infidels,  but  from  those  de- 
voted to  the  cause  of  Christianity,  show  that  Swedenborg  has 
not  spoken  too  plainly,  or  exhibited  incorrectly  the  doctrines  of 
the  day. 

That  now  indeed  is  the  time  of  the  end,  and  that  if  the  dogmas 
and  teachings  of  the  old  Church  were  not  put  aside,  and  its  days 
shortened,  no  flesh  could  be  saved,  is  more  particulai-ly  evinced 
from  the  consideration  that  it  is  taught  as  a  fundamental  principle, 
the  comer-stone  of  the  Church,  that  man  can  be  saved  and  justi- 
fied by  faith  alone  ! 

It  would  seem  impossible  that  a  more  pernicious  doctrine 
could  have  been  adopted,  and  that  as  if  here  the  demon  of  ir- 
religion  had  erected  an  idol  which  he  had  determined  should  not 
be  overthrown ;  for  he  has  given  the  Christian  world  a  belief 
which  allows  its  members  to  practise  all  their  lives  any  degree  of 
sin  and  wickedness,  yet  still  at  the  last  moment  to  be  through 

15 


226  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

faith  saved.  A  doctrine  like  this,  lulHng  thousands  into  a  fatal 
security,  supported  by  sophistries  and  perversions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  used,  like  heathen  sacrifices,  as  a  substitute  for  the  re- 
quirements of  religion,  may  traly  be  said  to  be,  par  eminence,  the 
abomination  of  desolation. 

The  words  of  the  prophecy  inform  us,  that  in  the  time  of  the 
end,  and  when  Jerusalem  or  the  Church  shall  be  trodden  down 
by  the  Gentiles,  or  its  truths  desecrated,  then  shall  be  seen  the 
Son  of  man  coming  with  power  and  great  glory.  This  part  of 
the  prediction  we  hardly  need  say  is  being  actually  fulfilled,  and 
there  are  few  eyes,  even  those  who  pierce  or  falsify  his  Word, 
who  do  not,  through  the  extraordinary  agents  which  have  been 
given,  see  him.  The  prophecy  is  also  in  a  remarkable  degree 
being  fulfilled,  inasmuch  as  already  the  Christian  world,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  clouds  of  darkness  having  been  removed,  has  come 
into  a  more  free  way  of  thinking,  and  many  of  the  dogmas  and 
sensuous  views  which  arrested  the  cause  of  truth,  totter  to  their 
fall.  Above  all,  a  second  Christian  Church  has  been  established 
which  we  trust  has  doctrines  which  do  not  blind,  and  members 
who  by  their  lives  and  conduct  show  that  they  are  indeed  what 
they  profess.  That  part  of  the  prophecy  in  which  it  is  figura- 
tively said  that  the  sun  shall  be  darkened  and  the  moon  not  give 
her  light,  is  well  illustrated  by  those  clergymen  who  still  refuse 
to  admit  any  sense  except  that  of  the  letter ;  for  to  them  the  sun 
is  darkened,  and  the  moon  refuses  to  give  her  light ;  they  hear  of 
wars  and  rumors  of  wars  ;  and  seeing  Christian  brethren  waning 
against  Christian  brethren,  the  numerous  conflicting  sects,  the 
contest  between  the  natural  sciences  and  apparent  biblical  truths, 
the  wickedness  and  skepticism  of  the  age,  are,  not  having  any 
remedy  for  the  mighty  evil,  in  such  tribulation  as  has  not  been 
since  the  w^orld  or  Church  had  an  existence. 

It  may  be  said  that  we  have  taken  an  erroneous  view  of  the 
subject,  and  that  the  prophecy  has  not  reference  to  the  end  of 
the  Church,  but  alludes  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
end  of  the  world.  To  this  we  reply,  not  by  denying  that  such  is 
not  the  apparent  sense,  but  that  it  is  an  interpretation  which  can- 
not be  relied  upon.  As  we  have  before  obsen-ed,  the  Jews,  even 
the  disciples,  expected  that  in  their  lifetime  the  Saviour  would 
come  and  found  an  earthly  kingdom,  and  that  they  as  kings  and 


ADAM  Clarke's  opmroN.  '     227 

princes  Avould  reign  with  him.  '•  For  this  reason,  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  estabhshing  the  Christian  rehgion,  the  Saviour,  in  his  pre- 
diction at  the  Mount  of  OUves,  clothed  his  Avords  in  a  veil,  so 
that  his  followers  could  not  steadfastly  look  to  the  end."  He 
answered  them  in  a  figurative  and  enigmatical  manner,  and  so 
that  it  might  be  construed  to  designate  not  only  that  which  they 
so  earnestly  desired,  but  the  end  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  world. 
That  his  words  were  figurative,  and  did  not  signify  the  end  of  the 
world,  has  been  evinced  in  Section  XIL,  and  is  further  shown 
from  its  being  said  that  in  the  day  the  Son  of  man  is  revealed, 
"  two  men  shall  be  in  the  field,  and  the  one  shall  be  taken  and 
the  other  left."  We  are  informed  that  upon  hearing  tliis  the  dis- 
ciples asked  when  or  where  it  should  be ;  and  the  Saviour,  in- 
stead of  plainly  answering,  replied  in  a  still  more  enigmatical 
manner,  and  said,  "  Wheresoever  the  body  is,  thither  will  the 
eagles  be  gathered  together."  That  the  Saviour  designedly  con- 
cealed the  time  of  his  second  advent,  is  also  evident  from  the  re- 
ply which  he  gave  to  the  disciples  after  his  crucifixion.  The  fol- 
lowers of  the  Lord  still  remaining  in  the  belief  that  they  were  not 
to  taste  of  death  until  they  saw  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his 
kingdom,  and  not  knowino-  that  the  words  had  another  sisnifica- 
tion,  came  to  him,  saying,  "  Lord,  wilt  thou  at  this  time  restore 
the  kingdom  to  Israel  ?"  The  Saviour  replied,  "  It  is  not  for  you 
to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons,  which  the  Father  hath  put  in 
his  own  power." — (See  Acts  i.  7.)  This  reply,  and  other  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  subject,  evince  that  the  Saviour  did 
conceal  the  period  of  his  second  advent  from  those  about  him. 
His  ansAver  was  given  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  destroy  their 
views  and  expectations,  yet  at  the  same  time  to  conceal  those 
truths  which  they  could  not  then  bear  or  receive. 

Many  eminent  writers,  seeing  the  inconsistencies  and  difiiculties 
connected  with  a  literal  translation,  and  the  advantage  which  it 
affords  the  skeptic,  have  taught  that  the  words  of  the  Lord  con- 
cerning his  second  advent  have  not  reference  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  but  to  the  destrviction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans. 
Thus  Adam  Clarke,  in  his  Commentaries,  affirms :  "  The  end 
of  the  world  signifies  the  end  of  the  age,  or  the  Jewish  economy." 
And  in  reference  to  verses  29  and  30  in  Matthew  xxiv.,  he  adds : 
"Commentators  generally  understand  this,  and  what  follows,  of 


228        •  THE   SECOND   ADVENT. 

the  end  of  the  world  and  Christ's  coming  to  judgment ;  but  the 
word  immediately  shows  that  our  Lord  is  not  speaking  of  any 
distant  event,  but  of  something  immediately  consequent  on  calami- 
ties already  predicted;  and  that  must  be  the  destiiiction  of 
Jerusalem."  "  The  Jewish  heaven  shall  perish,  and  the  sun  and 
moon  of  its  glory  and  happiness  shall  he  darkened — brought  to 
nothing.  The  sun  is  the  rehgion  of  the  Church  ;  the  moon  is  the 
government  of  the  State  ;  and  the  stars  are  the  judges  and  doc- 
tors of  both."  Compare  Isaiah  xiii.  10;  Ezek.  xxxii.  7,  8,  (fee. — 
Lightfoot. 

"  In  the  prophetic  language,  great  commotions  upon  earth  are 
often  represented  under  the  notions  of  commotions  and  changes 
in  the  heavens." 

"  The  fall  of  Babylon  is  represented  by  the  stars  and  constella- 
tions of  heaven  withdrawing  their  light,  and  the  sun  and  moon 
being  darkened." — See  Isa.  xiii.  9,  10. 

"  The  destraction  of  Egypt  by  the  heavens  being  covered,  the 
sun  enveloped  with  a  cloud,  and  the  moon  withholding  her  light." 
— Ezek.  xxxii.  7,  8. 

"  The  destruction  of  the  Jews,  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  is 
represented  by  casting  down  some  of  the  host  of  heaven,  and  the 
stars  to  the  ground." — See  Dan.  viii.  10. 

"  And  this  very  destruction  of  Jeinisalem  is  represented  by  the 
prophet  Joel,  chap.  ii.  30,  31,  by  showing  wonders  in  heaven  and 
in  earth,  darkening  the  sun  and  turning  the  moon  into  blood. 
This  general  mode  of  describing  these  judgments  leaves  no 
room  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  its  application  in  the  present 
sense." 

From  the  above  it  can  be  seen  that  this  eminent  writer  did  not 
believe  that  the  words  of  the  Saviour  had  reference  to  the  end  of 
the  world,  but  to  the  end  of  the  Jewish  economy.  It  is  observed 
that  they  represented  the  time  when  the  Jewish  heaven  should 
perish,  and  the  sun  and  moon  of  its  glory  be  darkened  and 
brought  to  nothing.  This  interpretation  is  in  accordance  with 
Swedenborg's  views,  with  the  exception  that  he  informs  us  that 
the  prophecy  had  not  reference  to  the  Jewish  Church,  but  to  the 
Christian,  the  sun  and  moon  of  which  Avere  to  be  darkened.  It 
will  be  admitted  that  there  is  as  much  reason  to  rely  upon  Swe- 
denborg's interpretation  as  upon  Dr.  Clarke's,  particularly  so  as 


TESTIMONY    OF   THE   ANCIENT    PKOPHETS.  229 

the  views  of  the  former  have  not  the  inconsistencies  of  the  latter, 
and  do  not  give  us  to  understand  that  the  Lord  prophesied  con- 
cerning the  end  of  the  Jewish  Church,  when  that  event  had  al- 
ready taken  place,  and  a  new  dispensation  had  been  established. 
If  the  words  of  the  prophecy  had  reference  to  the  Jewish  Church, 
the  Saviour  would  have  addressed  himself  to  its  rulers ;  but  this 
was  not  the  case,  and  the  Lord's  words  were  directed  to  his  im- 
mediate followers,  who  then  composed  the  Christian  Church. 
Another  difficulty,  in  supposing  that  they  refer  solely  to  the 
destruction  of  the  temple  and  Jerusalem,  is,  that  it  would  destroy 
our  faith  in  the  Lord's  second  advent — a  belief  which,  we  need 
not  say,  is  one  of  those  great  truths  that  compose  the  Christian 
religion,  and  which  was  the  chief  object  of  the  disciples'  inquiries  : 
the  question  with  them  being  not  so  much  in  respect  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  temple  as  concerning  his  second  coming  ;  for  this 
they  looked  upon,  as  have  Christians  in  all  ages,  as  that  which 
was  to  crown  their  hopes  and  expectations.  Swedenborg's  in- 
terpretation, so  far  from  being  involved  in  any  difficulties  of  this 
kind,  and  which  puts  aside  as  useless  many  parts  of  the  predic- 
tion, and  makes  the  whole  no  more  sacred  than  the  same  event 
recorded  in  profane  histor}^  teaches  that  the  whole  prophecy, 
even  to  the  most  seemingly  insignificant  passage,  has  reference  to 
the  state  of  the  Church  and  the  Lord's  second  advent.  This 
view,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  more  in  accordance  with  reason  and 
the  belief  that  "  all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and 
is  profitable  for  doctrine  and  instruction." 

Having  thus  briefly  exliibited  the  purport  of  the  Saviour's  pro- 
phecy concerning  his  second  advent,  we  will  now  proceed  to  ex- 
amine some  of  the  ancient  prophecies  in  respect  to  the  same  sub- 
ject, and  which  inform  us  that  "now  can  be  seen  the  dawn  of  a 
neiv  day,  an  era  dreamed  of  by  enthusiasts,  promised  by  philosd- 
phers,  sung  by  the  poets,  but  hitherto  only  hoped  for  in  the  vague 
distance  by  the  reflecting  mind." 

The  prophet  Jeremiah,  piercing  the  veil  of  futurity,  thus  al- 
ludes to  the  subject :  "  Behold,  the  days  are  coming  in  which  I 
will  make  a  iiew  covenant.  And  this  shall  he  the  covenant :  I 
will  give  my  law  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  ivill  write  it  on  their 
heart ;  and  I  will  be  to  them  a  God,  and  they  shall  be  to  me  a 


230  THE   SECOND   ADVENT, 

peoj)le  ;  therjall  shall  knoiv  me,  from  the  least  of  them  to  the  great- 
est"— (xxxi.  31,  34.) 

The  prophet  Isaiah  states  that  in  this  golden  era  justice  and 
judgment  shall  rale  the  earth  ;  that  by  a  prevalence  of  knowledge 
(inspired  by  a  sincere  desire  to  know  what  is  truth),  the  deaf  shall 
hear  the  Word  of  the  Book,  and  the  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  see 
out  of  obscurity  and  out  of  darkness  ;  that  in  that  day  the  wilder- 
ness and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad,  and  the  desert  shall  re- 
joice and  blossom  as  the  rose ;  that  men  shall  build  houses  and 
plant  vineyards,  and  their  children's  children  shall  inhabit  them  ; 
that  there  shall  be  no  more  an  infant  of  days  nor  an  old  man  that 
hath  not  tilled  his  days.  It  is  even  figuratively  said,  that  in  such 
a  manner  will  man's  fierce  and  evil  passions  be  hushed  and 
quieted,  that  those  which  are  correspondent  to  the  wolf  will  lie 
down  with  that  which  represents  the  lamb,  "and  that  the  lion 
shall  eat  straw  like  the  bullock." 

In  other  places  the  sacred  writer  confirms  what  he  has  said, 
and  still  more  to  add  to  the  importance  of  the  great  truth  which 
he  was  the  instrument  in  disclosing,  adds,  that  this  happy  era  is 
to  last  for  ages  on  ages  ;  thus  he  says  (Is.  chap.  ix.  1),  making 
mention  of  the  reign  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  that  "  of  the  increase 
of  his  government  and  of  peace  there  shall  be  no  end,  and  that  it 
shall  be  established  from  henceforth  even  forever.^' 

That  these  ancient  prophecies  have  reference  to  a  period  when 
this  earth  will  be  redeemed  from  e\il  and  misery,  is  generally 
admitted ;  and  that  they  refer  to  the  period  of  the  second  ad- 
vent is  clear  from  the  prophet  Daniel.  Thus  he  says,  when  pre- 
dicting the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man,  "  /  ivas  in  the  vision  of  the 
night,  and  behold  tvith  the  clouds  of  the  heavens,  as  it  were,  the 
Son  of  man  was  coming  ;  and  unto  him  was  given  dominion,  and 
glory,  and  a  kingdom  ;  and  all  people,  nations,  and  tongues  shall 
vjorship  him.  His  dominion  is  the  dominion  of  an  age  which 
vnll  not  pass  away,  and  his  kingdom  one  lohich  tvill  not  perish." 

The  books  of  Ezekiel,  Amos,  Zephaniah,  Job,  Micah,  Hosea, 
and  the  Psalms,  also  speak  of,  and  allude  to  the  coming  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace,  and  of  the  time  when  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants 
shall  be  redeemed  from  evil ;  but  omitting  these  citations,  we 
would  now  call  attention  to  that  crown  of  prophecies,  the  Book 
of  Revelation,  where  the  doctrine  of  the  Second  Advent,  and  of 


THE    NEW    JERUSALEM.  231 

the  NeAv  Heaven  and  New  Earth,  is  in  the  most  distinct  manner 
taught  and  exhibited.  The  passage  to  which  alkision  is  made  is 
as  follows  (chap.  xxi.  14) :  "And  I  John  saw  a  New  Heaven  and 
New  Earth  ;  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  were  passed 
away.  And  I  John. saw  the  Holy  City,  New  Jerusalem,  cominy 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  2^^'<'p(ti'cd  as  a  bride  adorned  for 
her  husband;  and  I  heard  a  yreat  voice  out  of  heaven,  sayiny. 
Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men  ;  and  lie  will  dwell 
with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  jieople." 

In  the  above,  we  are  informed  that  there  shall  be  a  New  Heav- 
en and  Earth — that  the  old  shall  pass  away — that  the  city  of 
the  New  Jerusalem  shall  come  down  from  heaven — tliat  the 
tabernacle  of  God  shall  be  with  men,  and  that  he  shall  dwell 
with  them.  Now  the  question  arises.  How  is  it  known  that  this 
important  prophecy  has  I'eference  to  the  present  time  ?  To  this 
we  reply,  that  we  know  it,  1st,  because,  as  has  been  shown,  un- 
der the  figure,  symbol,  or  allegory  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  or  Je- 
inisalem,  God  has  throughout  his  inspired  volume  spoken  of  and 
designated  a  new  and  great  Christian  Church,  Avhich  at  some  pe- 
riod was  to  be  established.  The  subject  is  alluded  to  by  the 
prophets,  and  so  distinctly  by  Isaiah,  that  it  is  generally  admitted 
that  the  New  Heaven  and  Earth  there  mentioned,  is  the  same 
with  the  one  exhibited  by  St.  John  in  Revelation.  Thus  Isaiah 
says,  "Behold,  I  create  a  New  Heaven  and  a  Neio  Earth  ;  rejoice 
and  exult  forever  !  and  behold,  I  am  to  create  Jerusalem  an  exul- 
tation and  her  people  a  joy"  (Ixv.  \1). 

That  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  the  New  Heaven  and  Earth 
mentioned,  have  reference  to  the  present  time,  is  also  to  be  infer- 
red from  the  fact  the  prophecy  is  but  a  continuation  of  the  pre- 
diction of  the  Lord  concerning  his  second  advent,  and  concern- 
ing the  establishment  of  a  New  Church,  or  Zion.  Thus  the 
words  of  the  Lord  concerning  the  end  of  the  age,  or  Church,  as 
found  in  Matthew,  and  his  words  spoken  by  St.  John  in  the 
Apocalypse,  have  so  great  a  similarity,  that  there  can  be  little 
or  no  doubt  that  they  allude  to  the  same  event.  The  one  in- 
forms us,  that  at  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  the  end  or 
consummation  of  the  age,  the  tares  shall  be  separated  from  the 
wheat,  the  Church  judged,  and  the  wicked  (in  the  spiritual 
world)  sentenced  to  the  fire  of  their  lusts  and  evil  passions.    The 


232  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

same  judgment  is  described  by  St.  John  under  the  symbol  of  a 
great  white  throne,  where  it  is  also  said  the  wicked  shall  be  in 
a  like  manner  punished.  This  view  of  the  subject  avoids  former 
difficulties,  and  evinces  that  there  is  a  connection  between  the 
two  prophecies.  St.  John,  it  can  be  seen,  immediately  and,  in 
the  ensuing  chapter,  makes  mention  of  the  New  Heaven  and 
Earth  which  was  to  be  established  after  the  old  one  had  fled 
away.  The  one  informs  us  that  the  old  Jerusalem,  or  Christian 
Church,  had  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  wanting  ;  and 
the  other,  that  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  second  great  Christian 
Church,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband,  has  now 
made  her  appearance,  and  has  those  truths,  that  spiritual  philoso- 
phy, which  is  to  be  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  and  a  means 
by  which  the  world  may  be  eventually  regenerated  and  restored. 

The  character  of  the  present  age,  as  we  have  before  observed, 
is  sufficient  to  evince  that  the  prophecy  concerning  the  New 
Heaven  and  Earth  has  reference  to  the  present  time ;  for,  as 
truly  remarked,  "the  earth  (with  its  modem  inventions  and  agen- 
cies) with  the  steam-engine  in  it,  and  with  all  the  capabihties  which 
belong  to  that  mighty  instrument  for  aiding  the  industry  and 
multiplying  the  comforts  of  mankind,  is  a  New  Earth,  far  better 
than  the  old  as  the  dwelling-place  of  man — far  better  fitted  in  its 
physical  arrangements  for  the  universal  establishment  of  tlie 
kingdom  of  Christ ;  or  in  other  Avords,  for  the  universal  preva- 
lence of  knowledge,  liberty,  righteousness,  peace,  and  salvation." 

If  an  attempt  is  made  to  under.stand  the  prophecy  of  St.  John 
in  the  sense  of  the  letter,  nothing  can  be  made  of  it ;  for  we  not 
only  have  set  before  us  a  city,  the  wall,  gates,  and  palaces  of 
which  shall  be  made  of  precious  stones,  but  are  informed  that  it 
shall  be  twelve  thousand  furlongs  in  height — an  intimation,  it  is 
needless  to  say,  in  the  highest  degree  incredible  and  iiTational. 
It  may  be  urged  that  the  city  of  the  New  Jerusalem  has  refer- 
ence to  the  happy  state  of  the  saints  in  heaven,  and  is  not  appli- 
cable to  this  Avorld.  But  this  cannot  be,  for  the  reason  that  it  is 
said,  that  the  tabernacle  of  God  shall  be  toith  men;  that  his  true 
Spirit  shall  dwell  with  them ;  that  the  nations  of  them  which  are 
saved  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  the  New  Jerusalem ;  that  out  of 
it  shall  proceed  the  River  of  the  Water  of  Life;  that  within 
shall  be  the  leaf  of  the  tree  which  shall  be  for  the  healinff  of 


THE    NEW    JERUSALEM    AIST    EARTHLY    STATE.  233 

the  nations  ;  that  the  kings  of  the  earth  shall  bring  their  honor 
and  glory  into  it.  If  these  words  have  reference  to  the  ano-els  of 
heaven,  or  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  who,  we  are  in- 
formed, are  as  angek,  they  appear  most  unaccountable  ;  for  why 
should  it  be  said  that  there  was  a  tree,  the  leaf  of  which  should 
be  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  Avhen  there  was  none  to  be 
healed,  all  being  made  happy  ?  Or  why  is  it  taught  that  the 
nations  of  those  that  should  be  saved  should  walk  in  the  light  of 
the  New  Jerusalem,  when  all  were  redeemed  ? 

Again,  we  are  led  to  believe  that  the  city  of  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem has  reference  to  a  new  state  of  things  on  this  earth,  and  not 
in  heaven,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  said  in  chap,  xxi.,  that  he  that 
overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things,  and  that  God  will  be  his  God 
and  he  shall  be  his  son.  Now  if  these  words  had  reference  to 
the  saints  in  heaven,  they  would  be  not  far  from  absurd  ;  for  it  is 
generally  believed  that  saints  in  heaven  are  sons  of  God,  have 
overcome  e\il,  and  do  inherit  all  things.  The  following  passage, 
also,  exhibits  the  irrationality  of  giving  credence  to  the  belief  that 
the  New  Jerusalem  signifies  a  state  in  heaven ;  for  immediately 
after  the  verse  where  it  is  stated  that  those  who  overcome  shall 
inherit  all  things,  and  that  God  shall  be  their  God,  it  is  added, 
"  But  the  fearful  and  unbelieving,  and  the  abominable,  and  mur- 
derers, and  whoremongers,  and  sorcerers,  and  idolaters,  and  all 
liars,  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake  which  burneth  with  fire." 

Now  according  to  chap,  xx.,  or  the  one  immediately  preceding, 
and  from  which  this  citation  is  taken,  we  are  informed  that  a 
great  white  throne  was  erected,  and  the  world  or  Church  was 
judged.  It  is  to  be  noticed,  that  one  passage  apparently  informs 
us  that  tlie  world  has  come  to  an  end,  yet  the  other,  and  it  is  the 
last  chapter  in  the  Bible,  directly  states  to  the  contrary,  and  in- 
forms us  there  are  yet  wicked  people  in  the  world,  and  that  the 
day  of  probation  has  not  gone  by ;  and  if  this  is  so,  if  we  have 
exhibited  the  subject  correctly,  then  there  is  but  one  inference  to 
be  drawn,  viz.,  that  the  passage  concerning  the  New  Heaven  and 
Earth  has  not  reference  to  the  glorified  state  of  the  saints  in 
heaven,  but  to  a  certain  period  of  time  upon  this  earth.  To  con- 
sider the  subject  differently,  to  deny  the  interpretation  given  by 
our  distinguished  authority  (and  which  avoids,  all  difficulty,  all 
seeming  contradiction),  would  be  to  affirm  that  an  untruth  had 


234  THE   SECOND    ADVENT. 

been  spoken,  and  that  He  who  is  Truth  itself  had  contradicted  in 
one  chapter  what  he  had  written  in  another — tliat,  in  a  word,  he 
had  judged  and  sentenced  the  world  or  Church,  and  then  that 
he  had  not,  and  all  things  remained  in  the  same  situation  they 
were  in  before  the  great  white  throne  was  seen  and  the  books 
opened. 

There  are  other  interpreters  of  the  Apocalypse  who,  to  avoid 
the  difficulties  in  which  this  view  of  the  subject  would  involve 
them,  have  affirmed  that  the  N^^w  Heaven  and  Earth  has  refer- 
ence to  that  period  when  it  is  supposed  that  Christ  will  person- 
ally appear  and  reign  a  thousand  years  upon  the  earth.  But  it 
is  evident  that  this  is  a  great  fallacy,  and  cannot  be  maintained 
except  by  a  perversion  of  every  rule  of  interpretation ;  for,  as 
remarked  by  Dr.  Scott,  it  cannot  be,  for  the  reason  that  the  per- 
sonal reign  of  Christ  and  the  period  of  the  millennium  come  in 
order  subsequent  to  the  account  of  the  general  judgment ;  and  we 
can  never  attain  to  a  satisfactory  understanding  of  prophecy,  if 
imagination  or  conjecture  be  allowed  to  cany  us  backward  or 
forward  without  any  fixed  principles.  He  adds,  that  one  princi- 
pal weapon  by  which  we  are  enabled  to  defend  the  Apocalypse 
against  the  attacks  of  infidels,  and  prove  that  it  is  an  inspired 
work,  "  must  be  by  showing  that  there  is  order  and  arrangement 
in  the  predictions,  and  a  coincidence  between  them  and  known 
facts ;  and  that  a  regular  series  of  events  is  foretold,  some  of 
which  are  already  fulfilled,  and  the  rest  cannot  be  so,  because 
the  order  of  the  prophecy  shows  them  to  be  yet  future."* 

It  is  plainly  evident  that,  let  it  be  once  admitted  that  there  is 
no  order  in  the  arrangement  of  God's  prophecies,  and  that  one 
can  be  conjoined  and  grafted  into  another,  regardless  of  those 
periods  of  time  in  which  each  particular  event  was  to  follow 
the  other,  then  all  sacred  prophecy  falls  to  the  ground,  and  the 
whole  book  of  Revelation  may  be  considei-ed  as  a  volume  in- 
ferior to  an  old  wife's  tale.  Yet  this  is  the  -\'iew  taken  of  it  by 
that  class  of  interpreters  of  whom  Mr.  Lord  may  be  considered  as 
the  exponent ;  a  writer  who  informs  us  that  the  New  Jerusalem 
and  the  New  Heaven  and  Earth  is  that  period  of  time  Avhen  Christ 
is  personally  to  reign  a  thousand  years  upon  the  earth,  and  that 

*  See  Scott's  Cominontaries.  on  Revelation. 


SELF-CONTRADICTOKY    VIKWS.  235 

after  this  period  the  world  is  to  relapse  back  into  its  former  state 
of  wickedness ! 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  this  view  of  the  subject  is  so  ir- 
rational, so  entirely  contradictory  to  just  views  of  God's  provi- 
dence, that  Mr.  Lord  himself,  though  he  asserts  that  it  is  the 
truth,  exclaims  concerning  it,  and  says,  that  "  to  believe  that 
God,  after  having  converted  the  world  into  a  paradise  of  beauty, 
virtue,  and  bliss,  should  again  allow  Satan  to  deface  it  with  rebel- 
lion and  death,  and  drag  new  millions  down  the  abyss  of  hopeless 
ruin,  is  one  of  those  measures  which  no  human  being,  however 
exalted  in  intellect,  could  have  deemed  the  most  eligible ;  that  it 
is  a  measure  which  no  one,  unless  taught  by  the  spirit  of  truth, 
could  have  believed  compatible  with  the  divine  wisdom  and  be- 
nignity ;  that  it  contradicts  the  expectation  of  the  Church  at  the 
period  when  the  prophecies  were  Avritten,  in  place  of  according 
Avith  them,  and  that  reason  in  every  age,  instead  of  being  able  to 
discover  the  necessity  of  such  an  occurrence,  has  been  baffled  by 
it  and  confounded."* 

But  Avithout  further  examining  the  interpretations  of  Avriters 
who,  as  they  themselves  admit,  give  up  the  use  of  their  rational 
faculties  in  regard  to  the  Scriptures,  and  teach  that  the  more  in- 
credible and  astounding  is  their  doctrine,  so  much  the  more  should 
it  be  received  as  God's  truth,  and  as  a  Avonderful  instance  of  his* 
Avisdom  and  man's  nothingness,  Ave  shall  bring  our  observations 
to  a  conclusion,  and  should  not  have  lingered  so  long  in  an  ex- 
amination of  the  doctrine  of  the  second  advent,  had  Ave  not 
thought  it  of  the  last  importance.  We  belieA^e  that  the  time  is 
to  arriA'e  Avhen  there  will  not  be,  as  noAv,  here  and  there,  an  in- 
quiring mind  Avishing  to  know  concerning  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  man,  but  that  numbers,  Avhole  congregations,  Avill  wish  to  know 
concerning  the  subject  something  that  they  can  depend  upon. 
And  it  appears  to  us  that  it  will  be  in  vain  to  answer  them  as  in 
days  gone  by.  There  is,  and  Avill  be,  too  much  intelligence  ex- 
isting for  that.  The  layman  Avill  wish  to  knoAv  why  the  predic- 
tions of  the  sacred  Avritings  are  not  fulfilled  ;  Avhy  the  adA^ent 
of  the  Son  of  man  did  not  take  place  in  the  time  of  the  apostles, 
and  Avhen  they  were  informed  that  that  generation  should  not 

*  See  Mr.  Lord's  Introduction  in  his  work  on  the  Apocalypse,  p.-uje  12. 


236  THE    SECOND    ADVENT. 

pass  away  until  all  things  be  fulfilled,  and  that  some  of  those 
■whom  he  addressed  should  not  taste  of  death  till  they  saw  the 
Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom.  He  will  demand  whether 
it  is  not  a  fact  that  the  disciples  lived  in  the  continual  expectation 
of  his  advent  ?  Whether  it  is  true  that  the  Son  of  man,  at  the 
sound  of  a  tinampet,  is  to  come  riding  on  horseback,  accompanied 
by  legions  mounted  on  white  horses,  jmd  clothed  in  white  linen ; 
or  if  it  is  true  that  at  his  coming  suns  or  stars  are  to  fall  to  the 
earth,  and  the  wicked  to  be  fore\er  punislied  by  material  fire ? 

Such  questions,  and  many  of  like  nature,  will,  we  repeat,  be 
asked,  and  must  be  answered.  The  time  has  amved  when  the 
Christian  community  demand  an  explanation,  and  the  rational 
doctrine  or  nothing  is  to  be  taught,  and  the  advent  C)f  the  Son  of 
man  shown  to  be  couched  in  figurative  and  svmbolical  lano-uawe ; 
that  it  designates  a  spuitual  coming ;  that  it  is  now  taking  place ; 
and  that  the  extraordinary  times  in  which  we  live,  and  the  agents 
in  operation,  are  the  best  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  behef. 

The  immediate  residts  of  the  doctrine  of  the  New  Church  in 
resfard  to  the  second  advent  are  of  the  most  cheerinw  nature,  but 
it  is  not  so  with  the  Old  Chm-ch  belief ;  for  how  vain  Avould  it  be 
to  attempt  to  co-operate  in  brmging  God's  kingdom  on  earth  as 
it  is  in  heaven,  if  after  a  certain  time  "  Satan  is  to  be  loosed  from 
•the  bottomless  pit,"  and  the  whole,  the  fruit  of  six  thousand 
years'  efforts,  be  brought  to  naught,  and  the  world  become  as 
barbarous  and  wretched  as  ever !  As  we  have  before  observed, 
the  inationality  and  absurdity  of  the  supposition  is  sufficient  to  con- 
demn it ;  but  when,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  taught  as  one  of  the 
first  of  God's  truths,  that  there  will  be  a  time,  though  it  may  be  far 
distant,  when  the  days  of  primitive  happiness  -nnll  return,  which  are 
to  last  for  ages  on  ages  ;  tlien  is  brought  forward  an  inducement 
for  the  present  generation  to  do  their  part  in  bringing  about  this 
golden  era.  It  is  true  that  one  can  accomplish  but  little,  yet 
that  little  is  of  importance ;  it  being  like  the  drop  to  the  ocean : 
it  helps  swell  the  tide,  and  does  sometliing  towards  forwarding 
God's  eternal  and  o-lorious  design. 

The  heart  of  the  philanthropist  can  but  throb  in  unison  Avith 
him  who  teaches  that  the  tune  is  to  come  when  all  those  cruel 
pains  and  miseries  will  be  known  no  more ;  when  man  shall  be  a 
law  to  himself ;  when  \irtue  shall  be  loved  for  its  own  sake,  "  when 


AGE    OF    HAPPINESS.  237 

every  valley  shall  be  filled,  and  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be 
brought  low ;  and  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight,  and  the 
rough  ways  be  made  smooth."  Glorious  age !  God  speed  it. 
For  ourselves,  whatever  may  be  the  opinions  of  others,  we  have 
no  more  doubt  that  it  will  come,  and  that  the  tide  of  reformation 
has  set  in  never  to  retrograde,  than  we  have  of  the  most  self- 
evident  truth ;  for  to  doubt  it  would  be  to  doubt  the  voice  of 
reason,  the  voice  of  all  ages,  and  the  Oracles  of  God. 


SECTIOK   XIII. 


THE   RESURRECTION. 

The  next  subject  which  seems  most  naturally  to  demand  at- 
tention, after  having  considered  that  of  the  second  coming,  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  concerning  the  judg- 
ment-day. In  relation  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  it  is  popu- 
larly taught  that  after  the  Son  of  man  has  made  his  appearance, 
and  at  a  certain  fearful  period,  the  last  great  day  of  the  earth's 
existence,  all  who  have  lived  from  the  time  of  the  first  creation, 
including  the  innumerable  multitudes  who  have  perished  at  sea, 
will  arise  from  their  graves  and  various  places  of  sepulture,  clothed 
in  those  bodies  in  whicli  thev  existed  when  living,  and  stand  be- 
fore the  throne  of  God,  and  be  judged. 

Such  is  the  orthodox  belief,  but  it  is  evident  that  if  it  has  been 
shown  that  the  doctrine  concerning  the  personal  advent  of  the 
Son  of  man  denotes  a  spiritual  coming,  then  likewise  this"behef 
concerning  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  is  to  be  taken  in  a  diffei- 
ent  sense  from  that  of  the  mere  letter  ;  it  being  necessary  thus  to 
interpret  it,  as  a  behef  concerning  the  personal  appearance  of  the 
Son  of  man,  as  the  Judge  of  the  world,  is  as  inseparably  connected 
with  the  judgment  of  the  world,  as  is  a  judge  Avith  a  court,  jury, 
and  criminals ;  the  one  not  being  able  to  take  place  without  the 
other.  In  respect  to  this  belief,  or  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  natural  body,  it  will  not  be  our  endeavor  to  show  that 
it  cannot  be  apparently  proved  from  the  outward  sense  of  the 
Scriptures.  It  can  be  ;  but  so  also  can  it  be  shown  by  many 
passages  derived  from  the  inspired  volume,  that  after  our  remains 
are  placed  in  the  earth,  they  become,  in  time,  incorporated  with 
it,  dust  returning  to  dust;  and  the  spirit,  the  real  man,  tiiat  which 


OPINION    OF    LOCKK.  2'M* 

alone  is  capable  of  being  judged,  returns  to  the  God  who  gave 
it ;  and  hence  that  "  the  resuri-ection  of  the  dead"  denotes  a 
spiritual  resurrection,  or  throwing  aside  the  body  which  was  used 
in  this  life,  and  the  putting  on  of  a  new  form,  a  spiritual  body, 
which  is  incorruptible. 

The  celebrated  Locke  asserts  that  he  can  discover  nothing  in 
the  Scriptures  which  teiiches  that  the  bodies  which  at  death  are 
placed  in  the  earth,  are  ever  to  reappear.  Dr.  Dwight  informs 
us,  if  the  question  is  asked  whether  the  same  atoms  which  have 
composed  our  bodies  in  the  present  world,  Avill  constitute  the  body 
raised  at  the  final  day,  that  "  both  reason  and  revelation  answer 
in  the  negative."  Other  and  more  modern  writers  of  distinguished 
abilities  hold  the  same  views,  and  beheve  that  Paul  declared 
a  real  truth  when  he  taught  that  there  is  "  a  natural  body  and  a 
spiritual  body,"  and  that  what  is  sown  in  corruption  is  raised 
incorruptible.  For  ourselves,  so  rational  is  the  belief,  that  it  ap- 
pears almost  imaccountable  that  any  Avho  have  examined  the  sub- 
ject should  doubt  the  New  Church  doctrine ;  and,  indeed,  con- 
tradictory as  it  may  appear,  it  is  not  doubted ;  for  there  are  few 
clergymen  who  do  not  teach  that  good  men  at  death  go  to 
heaven,  and  the  wicked  to  hell :  yet  it  is  true,  that  if  many  of 
these  persons  are  asked  concerning  the  general  resun-ection,  they 
will  affirm  that  it  is  to  take  place,  thus  literally  asserting  that  all 
who  have  departed  to  the  better  abode  are  at  some  period  to  ap- 
pear on  this  earth,  and  re-collect  the  dust  which  composed  their 
former  emaciated  bodies,  and  thus  again  (as  some  affirm)  ascend 
to  heaven  ! 

There  are  difficulties  in  regard  to  the  sensuous  belief  of  the 
resurrection  which  immediately  arrest  attention,  and  one  of  the 
first  is,  How  are  the  dead  raised  up,  and  Avith  what  body  do  they 
come  ?  Every  man  is  continually  changing  his  body,  and  has 
not  the  same  in  old  age  that  he  had  in  youth.  When  he  rises, 
Avill  he  assume  the  one  in  which  he  died,  or  that  in  which  he  ex- 
isted when  in  the  prime  of  manhood  ?  Is  the  infant  whose  hfe  is 
of  but  a  few  brief  hours  ever  to  remain  the  same  ?  And  where  will 
those  persons  find  their  remains  who  perished  on  the  battle-field  ? 
The  bones  of  those  who  fell  at  Waterloo  were  taken  to  Eng- 
land, and  have  been  ground  into  dust,  and  sent  to  different  parts 
of  the  world  to  be  used  for  agricultural  purposes ;  will  the  parts 


■240  THE   KESUKRECTION. 

which  belong  to  each  individual  ever  come  together  ?  The  idea 
is  not  far  from  being  absurd :  for  we  know  that  these  bones  thus 
groiuid  have  become  separated  in  such  a  manner  as  never  again  to 
be  joined,  havmg  been  resolved  into  other  substances,  and  gone 
to  eni-ich  the  vegetable  world. 

There  are  those  who,  not  willing  to  believe  that  flesh  and  blood 
can  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  seeing  the  inconsistency  of 
embracing  a  belief  which  teaches  that  the  same  body  that  is  in- 
ten-ed  will  be  raised,  have  adopted  another  theory.  It  is  asserted 
that  when  man  dies  his  soul  becomes  disembodied  and  exists  in 
the  form  of  gas,  or  an  ethereal  vapor.  Thus  an  eminent  writer 
says  :  "  We  are  taught  that  souls  in  a  separate  state  of  existence 
are  unembodied,  and  therefore  unsuscejotible  of  form  and  visible 
appearance."  It  is  believed  that  these  unembodied  spirits,  or  es- 
sences, remain  somewhei-e  (the  locality  being  unknown),  until  the 
general  judgment,  and  then  return  and  are  transformed  (that  is, 
the  good)  into  the  spiritual,  glorified,  and  celestial  bodies  men- 
tioned by  Paul,  and  then  are  judged.  Now  in  regard  to  this 
theory,  it  will  be  found  upon  examination  to  be  as  equally  incon- 
sistent and  in-ational  as  that  held  by  those  who  believe  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  natui-al  body  ;  for  not  only-  is  it  in  opposition 
to  the  Scriptures,  but  it  teaches  that  man  for  an  immense  period 
is  annihilated.  It  teaches  that  man  experiences  annihilation,  in- 
asmuch as  it  asserts  that  the  spirit  after  the  death  of  the  body 
exists  as  an  invisible  gas  or  vapor,  and  formless ;  and  if  so,  then 
man  is  viiiually  exterminated;  for  not  only  is  it  beyond  our 
power  to  conceive  of  any  thing  which  is  without  form  or  shape, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  an  invisible  gas  or  vapor,  even 
with  some  indeterminate  or  cloud-like  form,  can  exist  as  a  living 
being,  much  more  as  that  which  is  human.  If  it  is  at  all  con- 
sidered, it  is  classed  as  an  aura  or  essence,  which,  though  its  ef- 
fects can  be  perceived  and  appreciated,  is  not  tangible  to  the 
natural  sense.  The  doctrine  also  is  not  far  from  being  absurd,  as 
it  necessarily  teaches  that  all  will  be  raised  up  in  the  same  man- 
ner, and  which  cannot  be  true,  if  the  wicked  are  to  be  punished ; 
for  in  this  case  they  would  enter  the  lower  sphere  clothed  -with 
glorified  and  celestial  bodies  !  It  may  be  asserted  that  a  difier- 
ence  will  be  made,  and  the  wicked  will  arise  in  the  same  bodies 
which  they  possessed  when  existing  on  this  earth,    But  this  is  an 


STATE    OF    THE    SOUL    AFl'ER    DEATH.  5241 

inference  which  is  not  confirmed  by  the  Scriptures,  and  there  is 
no  passage  in  which  mention  is  made  of  any  such  change  or  ex- 
ception. The  theory  also  would  do  away  the  belief  in  another 
existence,  or  present  the  incongruity  of  flesh  and  blood  inhabiting 
the  spiritual  world  and  the  abode  of  the  fallen.* 

To  those  who  affirm  that  it  is  not  "  too  hard  a  thing"  for  God 
to  raise  all  who  have  existed  in  the  same  bodies  which  they  pos- 
sessed when  interred,  we  reply  that  such  a  theory  is  directly-  op- 

*  "Concerning  the  state  of  souls  after  death,"  says  Swedenborg,  "these 
things,  in  general  and  in  particular,  are  at  this  day  believed :  that  liuman 
souls  after  death  are  spirits,  of  which  they  cherish  an  idea  as  of  a  breath  of 
wind  ;  and  that,  because  they  are  such,  they  are  reserved  until  the  day  of 
the  last  judgment,  either  in  the  middle  of  the  earth,  where  their  place  is,  or 
in  the  Umlo  of  the  Fathers.  But  in  these  things  they  differ  :  sonic  suppose 
that  they  are  ethereal  or  aerial  forms,  and  that  thus  they  are  like  ghosts  and 
spectres,  and  that  some  of  them  dwell  in  the  air,  some  in  the  woods,  and 
some  in  the  waters ;  but  some  suppose  that  the  souls  of  the  deceased  are 
transferred  to  the  planets  or  to  the  stars,  and  there  abodes  are  given  to  them ; 
and  some  that,  after  thousands  of  years,  they  return  into  bodies.  But  most 
suppose  that  they  are  reserved  to  the  time  when  all  the  firmament,  together 
with  the  terraqueous  globe,  will  be  destroyed,  which  will  be  effected  by  fire, 
either  bursting  forth  from  the  centre  of  the  earth  or  east  down  from  heaven, 
like  a  universal  lightning  ;  and  that  then  the  sepulchres  will  be  opened,  and 
the  souls  which  have  been  reserved  clothed  ag.aiir  with  their  bodies,  and 
transferred  into  that  holy  city  Jerusalem,  and  thus,  upon  another  earth,  they 
will  dwell  together  in  purified  bodies,  some  below  there  and  some  above, 
because  the  height  of  the  city  is  to  be  twelve  thousand  furlongs,  as  its  length 
and  breadth. — Rev.  xxi.  16.  « 

"  When  any  of  the  clergy  or  laity  are  asked  whether  they  firmly  believe 
all  these  things,  as  that  the  antediluvians,  together  with  Adam  and  Eve,  and 
the  postdihivians,  together  with  Noah  and  his  sons,  and  also  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  together  with  all  the  prophets  and  apostles,  .as  well  as  the 
souls  of  other  men,  are  still  reserved  in  the  middle  of  the  earth,  or  .are  flying 
about  in  the  ether  or  air;  and  also  whether  they  believe  that  souls  will  be 
clothed  again  with  their  bodies,  and  become  united  with  them,  which  yet  are 
carcasses  eaten  up  by  worms,  mice,  and  fishes  ;  and  those  of  the  Egyptians, 
as  mummies,  eaten  up  by  men,  and  some  merely  skeletons  burnt  up  by  the 
sun,  .and  reduced  to  powder ;  and  likewise  whether  they  believe  that  the 
stars  of  heaven  will  then  fall  upon  the  e.arth,  which  yet  is  smaller  than  one 
of  them  :  are  not  such  things  paradoxes,  which  reason  itself  dissipates,  as  it 
does  things  that  arc  contradictory?  But  to  these  things  some  answer 
nothing ;  some,  that  these  are  matters  of  taith,  under  obedience  to  which  we 
keep  the  understanding  ;  some,  that  not  only  these  things,  but  m.any  more 
that  are  above  reason,  are  of  the  divine  omnipotence  ;  and  when  they  name 
faith  and  omnipotence  reason  is  banished,  and  then  sound  reason  either  dis- 
appears and  becomes  as  nothing,  or  becomes  like  a  spectre  and  is  called  in- 
sanity."— True  Christian  Hellgion,  769,  770. 

16 


242  THE    KESURREOTION. 

posite  to  other  parts  of  their  beUef,  and  as  far  as  that  is  concerned, 
is  impossible ;  for  how,  as  we  have  before  observed,  could  the 
antipodes  or  inhabitants  of  New  Holland  behold  the  Son  of  man 
at  his  coming  (supposing  that  he  should  appear  on  this  continent), 
unless  their  eyes  could  pierce  and  see  through  the  globe  ?  In- 
deed, without  a  most  stupendous  miracle,  a  greater  than  ever  was 
before  wrought,  they  could  see  nothing,  and  would  not  hear  the 
sound  of  his  chariot-wheels  or  the  voice  of  his  trumpet.  The  as- 
serting that  it  is  not  impossible  for  omnipotence  to  effect  this  and 
that  is  but  an  evasion,  and  a  method  of  reasoning  which,  if  gen- 
erally adopted,  would  soon  put  an  end  to  all  discussion,  and  place 
the  mind  in  the  situation  of  those  who  long  ago,  in  respect  to  the 
Scriptures,  have  given  up  the  use  of  their  rational  powers.  The 
sacred  -writings  and  every  day's  experience  teach  that  God  is  a 
being  of  order,  and  acts  according  to  the  laws  which  govern  the 
universe  ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  in  regard  to  so  im- 
portant a  matter  as  the  resurrection,  the  departure  from  this  life 
of  immense  multitudes,  he  would  act  contrary  to  himself,  and  \\o- 
late  the  great  law  which  ever  has  governed  the  subject.  So  far 
from  it  being  supposable,  it  is  the  contraiy,  and  we  have  every 
reason  to  believe,  both  from  analogy  and  the  Scriptures,  that 
man,  like  the  worm,  at  his  departure  leaves  his  natural  body, 
never  again  to  reoccupy  it. 

The  belief  that  man  immediately  after  the  death  of  the  body 
passes  into  another  existence  and  exists  in  the  human  form,  we 
consider  of  the  last  importance  ;  and  though  in  a  preceding  Sec- 
tion the  subject  has  been  mentioned,  it  may  not  be  altogether 
useless  to  bring  forward  a  few  more  texts  in  which  the  rational 
docti'ine  is  exhibited.  And  the  first  which  arrests  our  attention 
is  found  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  The  eminent 
writer  says  :  "  We  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  taber- 
nacle were  dissolved,  Ave  have  a  building  of  God — a  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens."  The  apostle  here 
evidently  alludes  to  man's  spiritual  body,  and  the  passage  virtu- 
ally reads  :  We  know  that  if  this,  our  earthly  tabernacle,  or  natu- 
ral body,  were  dissolved,  we  have  a  spiritual  body  which  exists 
eternal  hi  the  heavens.  That  Paul  in  this  text  had  reference  to 
man's  spiritual  body,  is  not  only  obvious  from  what  he  says  in 
the  ensuing  verse,  concerning  "  being  clothed  with  a  house  which 


THE   TESTIMONY   OF   PAIL.  243 

is  from  heaven,  and  not  being  found  naked,"  but  also  from  what 
is  said  in  a  previous  Epistle,  and  his  comparing  man  to  a  temple, 
or  building  of  God.  Thus  he  says  in  the  Second  of  Corinthians, 
"  Know  ye  not  that  ye  (that  is,  your  bodies)  are  the  temple  of 
God,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you  ?"  Paul  also,  on 
this  occasion,  taught  that  there  was  no  state  of  unconsciousness, 
but  after  the  death  of  the  body  man  went  to  another  existence. 

He  also  declares  the  same  in  his  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy. 
Thus  he  says  (after  alluding  to  their  calling,  and  that  they 
should  not  be  ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  the  Lord) :  "  But  now 
(his  purpose)  is  made  manifest  by  the  appearing  of  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  abolished  death,  and  hath  brought  life 
and  immortality  to  light  through  the  Gospel."  In  this  passage 
it  is  undeniable,  that  not  only  does  the  apostle  allude  to  the  skep- 
ticism which  existed  before  the  coming  of  the  Saviour,  but  also 
makes  direct  reference  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  its  exist- 
ence in  another  state.  Thus  he  says :  "  The  appearing  of  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ  hath  abolished  death,  and  hath  brought  life 
and  immortality  ;"  that  is  to  say,  the  advent  of  Christ,  the  truths 
which  he  promulgated,  hath  abolished  former  sensuous  theories 
and  the  belief  in  man's  annihilation,  and  informed  him  there  is  hfe 
and  immortality  beyond  the  grave.  If  this  interpretation  (which 
necessarily  implies  that  man  in  another  existence  retains  the  hu- 
man form)  is  denied,  the  text  becomes  contradictory  and  absurd, 
and  Paul  could  not  have  taught  that  Christ  abolished  death,  as 
those  to  whom  he  addressed  himself  saw  continually  those  about 
them  sinking  into  the  grave.  The  text  informs  us  that  Christ 
abolished  death ;  and  if  so,  then  we  are  assured  that  man  im- 
mediately after  the  death  of  the  body  passes  into  another  exist- 
ence ;  for  if  not,  and  he  sleeps  the  sleep  of  ages,  or  remains 
a  formless  vapor,  which  is  synonymous  with  anniliilation,  then 
Christ  has  not  abolished  death,  and  it  is  in  vain  to  preach  the 
greatest  truth  which  has  been  given. 

Paul  also  confirms  the  above  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Philippians. 
Thus  he  says  (after  alluding  to  the  pleasures  and  enjoyments  of 
this  life) :  "  I  have  a  desire  to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ, 
which  is  far  better."  Now  Christ,  when  this  was  written,  had 
left  the  earth,  and  a  period  of  many  years  had  elapsed  since  he 
had  been  seen  by  the  disciples ;  hence  is  shown  that  Paul  liter- 


244  THE   RESUKEECTION. 

ally  informed  the  Philippians  that  he  had  a  desire  to  depart  and 
be'with  Christ,  who  is  in  heaven,  which  existence  is  far  better 
than  the  pleasures  of  this  life.  If  this  explanation  is  not  admit- 
ted, the  text  becomes  contradictory ;  for  how  could  Paul  assert 
that  he  desired  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  when  he  believed, 
as  affirmed  by  some,  that  at  death  he  was  not  to  see  him,  but 
sleep  and  be  unconscious  ?  So  far  from  any  such  absurd  conclu- 
sion being  justifiable,  Paul  on  this  occasion  (though  he  did  not 
on  all)  mentioned  heaven  and  a  future  existence  as  one  at  the 
present  time  alludes  to  a  well-known  fact,  and  taught  his  follow- 
ers, as  shown  in  a  preceding  verse,  that  death  was  their  gain. 

That  when  possible,  an  attempt  was  made  to  teach  higher 
truths  unto  a  sensuous  race,  a  people  immersed  in  the  things  of 
this  fife,  is  also  exhibited  in  the  relation  concerning  Lazarus  and 
the  rich  man.  In  this  account,  we  are  informed  that  two  men 
died,  and  one  went  to  heaven,  and  the  other  to  its  opposite.  It 
is  not  said  that  after  death  they  remained  in  a  dormant  state,  for 
we  are  informed  that  the  beggar  was  immediately  taken  by  the 
angels  to  heaven.  That  each  in  the  other  fife  retained  the  hu- 
man form,  is  clear  from  what  is  said  concerning  the  rich  man 
having  eyes,  fingers,  and  a  tongue  ;  and  that  it  was  not  altogether 
of  a  parabolical  nature,  appears  from  the  fact  that  it  is  not  so 
designated  by  the  Lord,  and  also  from  what  is  said  concerning 
the  five  brethren  who  are  represented  as  then  living. 

St.  John,  also,  can  be  adduced  as  giving  good  testimony  con- 
cerning the  great  ti-uth  that  all  men  who  have  existed  in  this 
life  have  gone  to  the  spiritual  world.  Thus  he  informs  us,  that 
when  caught  up  to  heaven,  he  beheld  a  great  multitude,  which 
no  man  could  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindred,  and  people,  and 
tongues,  standing  before  the  throne  and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed 
in  white  robes,  with  palms  in  their  hands,  uniting  with  the  angels 
in  their  everlasting  song  of  praise.  The  apostle  asked  who  these 
persons  were.  The  interpreting  angel  informed  him  that  they 
were  those  who  came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  had  washed 
their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 
Therefore  he  adds,  they  are  before  the  throne  of  God  and  con- 
tinually serve  him,  he  dweUing  among  them.  It  cannot  be  de- 
nied that  the  immense  multitude  which  John  beheld  were  men 
who  once  lived  on  this  earth.     This  must  have  been  the  case,  as 


THE   CASE   OF    MOSES.  245 

the  time  was  long  before  the  expected  resurrection  of  the  dead. 
It  is  also  evident  they  did  not  exist  as  aerial  vapors,  or  disem- 
bodied ;  for  we  read  they  were  clothed  in  robes  and  held  palms  in 
their  hands.  It  is  also  stated  that  they  existed  in  a  state  of  great 
happiness.  A  writer  in  reference  to  this  subject,  after  remarking 
how  irrational  .it  would  be  to  suppose  they  would  reappear  on 
this  earth,  says :  "  Can  it  be  imagined  that  the  resumption  of 
their  bodies  of  clay  could  make  any  improvement  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  those  happy  beings?  Docs  not  such  a  thought  imme- 
diately bring  a  cloud  over  the  delightful  scene,  and  shut  the 
glorious  vision  from  our  view  ?"  The  observations  of  this  writer,  it 
must  be  admitted,  are  such  as  every  sensible  person  would  make, 
sQid  it  can  well  be  supposed  that  the  resumption  of  theii-  bodies 
of  clay  would  be  no  improvement  to  their  happiness. 

The  next  passage  we  shall  bring  forward  is  the  relation  con- 
cerning Moses.  This  great  prophet,  we  are  informed,  was  buried 
(that  is  to  say,  his  body)  in  a  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab  ;  yet 
many  years  after  appeared  on  the  mount  of  transfiguration  and 
conversed  with  the  Saviour.  The  case  of  Moses  is  one  which 
has  direct  allusion  to  the  subject.  There  is  nothing  in  the  cir- 
cumstance of  a  figm-ative  nature,  and  it  may  well  be  believed 
that  his  and  Elias'  appearance  was  caused  for  the  express  purpose 
of  convincing  the  disciples  and  others  concerning  the  existence  of 
man  in  another  life.  The  Saviour  further  exhibited  the  great 
tmth  in  his  reply  to  ]\Iartha,  and  the  incident  well  illustrates  the 
views  held  at  that  period.  The  sister  of  Lazarus  had  been  edu- 
cated in  the  doctrine  that  all,  at  the  death  of  the  body,  hterally 
sleep  and  remain  in  the  grave ;  and  on  this  occasion  declared  it 
by  saying  that  she  knew  her  brother  would  '•'  rise  at  the  last 
day."  But  it  is  said,  "Jesus  saith  unto  her,  I  am  the  resurrec- 
tion and  the  fife :  he  that  believeth  on  me,  though  lie  were  dead, 
yet  shall  he  live;  and  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in  me 
shall  never  die.     Believest  thou  this?" 

By  the  Saviour's  asserting  that  he  was  the  "  resurrection  and 
the  life,"  he  affirmed  that  through  and  by  him  were  mankind  in- 
structed concerning  a  future  existence.  By  his  affirming  that 
"  he  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he 
live,"  Martha  was  given  to  understand  that  all  who  believed  on 
him,  though  their  bodies  were  in  the  ground,  yet  in  i-eality  were 


246  THE    RKSURRECTION. 

alive  in  another  existence.  By  his  adding,  "  Whosoever  liveth 
and  believoth  in  me,  shall  never  die,"  was  taught  that  all  who 
are  now  living  and  believe  what  I  have  informed  them  concerning 
another  life,  can  never  die :  that  is,  can  never  suffer  death  in  the 
usual  acceptation  of  the  terra.  "  Believest  thou  this  ?"  that  is, 
has  thy  mind  become  sufficiently  enlightened  to  rise  above  the 
sensuous  race  about  thee,  and  comprehend  the  great  truth  ? 

That  such  is  a  true  interpretation,  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that 
if  it  is  construed  differently,  and  in  the  literal  sense,  the  words  of 
the  Lord  become  contradictory,  and  it  cannot  be  said  that  one  is 
dead,  yet  at  the  same  time  liveth  ;  or  that  those  Avho  believed  on 
him  should  never  die ;  as  multitudes,  including  all  the  apostles 
who  believed  on  him,  did  take  their  place  and  seemingly  become 
extinguished  in  the  grave. 

The  Lord  again  set  forth  the  tnith  in  his  reply  to  the  Saddu- 
cees ;  and  on  this  occasion  he  did  not  veil  the  subject,  but  plainly 
and  openly  taught  that  all  live  after  the  death  of  the  body. 
Thus  he  says,  in  answer  to  the  interrogatories  made,  "  But  as 
touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  have  ye  not  read  that 
which  was  spoken  by  God,  saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham, 
and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  ?  God  is  not  the 
God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living^*  In  this  reply  to  the  Saddu- 
cees,  the  materialists  of  the  asfe,  there  is  nothing  said  concerninof 
the  soul  remaining  unconscious,  but  it  is  given  us  to  understand 
that  the  Jewish  patriarchs  were  then  living ;  and  the  Lord  in  an- 
swer literally  stated  to  the  assembled  multitude,  "  Your  forefa- 
thers Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  others,  died  many  years  ago ; 
God  is  not  the  God  of  their  dead  bodies,  of  that  which  cannot  be 
found,  but  of  their  living  souls."  The  fact  that  we  are  informed 
this  reply  was  of  so  convincing  a  nature  as  to  self-con\ict  the 
Sadducees  and  put  them  to  silence,  is  no  small  proof  of  its  truth. 

We  might  give  other  citations  in  reference  to  the  subject,  but 
it  is  unnecessary.  There  are  those  who,  unable  to  show  they  are 
not  the  words  of  Scripture,  have  striven  to  pass  them  by  in  si- 
lence, and  have  endeavored  to  support  their  favorite  belief  by 
bringing  forward  other  texts.  But,  as  before  observed,  there  is 
no  difficulty  in  this  respect ;  the  belief  is  taught  in  many  places  ; 

*  Matt.  xxii.  32. 


GKOUNDLESS    EXPECTATIONS.  247 

yet  it  will  be  found,  upon  examination,  that  all  those  passages 
which  apparently  teach  that  the  dead  are  to  rise  from  their 
graves,  were  used  when  the  primitive  Christians  had  sensuous 
views  of  spiritual  subjects,  and  knew  little  concerning  the  truths 
of  the  Christian  religion ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  were  written  in 
a  language  decidedly  figurative  and  allegorical.  Thus  take  the 
passage  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  In  this  narration 
it  is  stated,  that  "  at  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man,  the  Lord  shall 
descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  arch- 
angel, and  with  the  trump  of  God ;  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall 
arise  first :  tlien  we  which  are  alive  (or  living  at  that  time)  and 
remain,  shall  be  caught  up  together  in  the  air,  and  so  shall  be 
ever  with  the  Lord  ;  wherefore  comfort  one  another  with  these 
words." 

Tlie  slightest  examination  renders  it  evident  that  when  this 
passage  was  written,  the  people  to  Avhom  it  was  addressed  were 
in  a  state  of  great  darkness.  This  is  evident  not  only  from  the 
fact  that  they  daily  lived  in  the  expectation  of  seeing  the  Lord 
appear  and  establish  a  temporal  kingdom,  and  comforted  them- 
selves, as  is  said,  with  these  words  ;  but  it  is  also  shown  from  the 
reason  that  they  thought  he  would  come  in  the  atmospheric 
clouds,  and  that  they  should  in  their  natural  bodies  ascend  to 
meet  him  in  the  air.  What  could  be  more  irrational  than  this 
belief?  How  directly  contrary  to  other  parts  of  the  Scriptures, 
which  inform  us  that  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  God,  and  that  it  comes  not  with  observation,  or  can  be  seen 
with  the  natural  eye ;  for,  as  is  said,  "  behold,  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  within  you !" 

Yet  this  passage  is  one  of  those  frequently  brought  forward  to 
prove  the  resurrection  of  dead  bodies.  The  followers  of  Mr. 
Miller,  in  particul^-,  hold  to  this  as  one  of  the  strongest  proofs  of 
the  personal  advent  of  the  Lord  ;  and  many  of  them  now  Ywe,  as 
in  times  of  old,  in  daily  expectation  of  being  in  flesh  and  blood 
caught  up  into  the  sky  to  meet  the  Son  of  man  ! 

In  regard  to  what  is  said  concerning  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead  in  the  book  of  Revelation,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
description  is  in  language  decidedly  figurative  and  allegorical. 
This  is  rendered  evident  from  the  fact  that  none  of  those  prophe- 
cies vfhich  are  mentioned  in  the  commencement  of  the  book. 


248  THE   EESURKECTION. 

and  wliich  are  generalk  supposed  to  have  occurred,  have  taken 
place  in  the  sense  of  the  letter.  Thus  it  is  said  that  at  the 
sounding  of  the  first  trumpet  (chap,  viii.),  and  which  is  supposed 
by  some  to  have  reference  to  the  Roman  empire,  that  fire  and 
hail  mingled  Avith  blood  should  descend  and  destroy  one-third  of 
the  trees  and  grass  of  the  earth.  As  observed  by  Mr.  Lord, 
nothing  of  this  kind  has  occurred  :  "  No  tempest  of  hail  and  fire 
mingled  with  blood  ever  descended  on  the  Roman  empire  and 
burned  a  third  part  of  it,  and  a  third  part  of  the  trees,  and  all 
green  grass,  nor  is  it  credible  that  such  a  fiery  whirlwind  is  to 
sweep  over  that  territory.  It  would  destroy  all  the  inhabitants, 
and  all  animals  exposed  to  it  on  the  earth  and  in  the  air,  and 
render  the  fulfilment  of  other  predictions  of  the  prophecy  impos- 
sible." 

Again,  he  says  in  regard  to  the  second  tnimpet,  that  "  no 
burning  mountain  ever  descended  into  the  Mediterranean,  or  any 
other  sea  within  the  limits  of  the  Roman  empire,  or  changed  one- 
third  of  the  waters  into  blood,  and  destroyed  one-third  of  the  fish 
and  one-third  of  the  ships."  Again,  in  respect  to  the  6th,  "  There 
have  never  been  any  horses  in  the  Roman  world  that  had  heads 
like  lions,  and  tails  formed  of  serpents,  and  that  breathed  fire, 
smoke,  and  brimstone  from  their  mouths,  and  killed  three-fourths 
of  the  population  of  the  empire.  There  never  have  been  any 
riders  of  such  horses  that  bore  fiery  hyacinths  and  sulphurous 
breastplates."  Mr.  Lord  informs  us  that  these  representations 
are  entirely  figurative  and  symbolical.  And  it  is  the  same  in  re- 
gard to  what  is  said  concerning  a  general  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  This  is  evident  from  the  fact,  that  it  is  said  that  not  only 
at  that  period  the  wicked  shall  be  forever  punished  by  material 
fire  and  brimstone,  but  also  from  its  being  written  that  death 
and  hell  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  I^ath  is  generally 
understood  to  denote  the  extinction  of  life,  yet  here  it  is  men- 
tioned as  if  it  were  an  individual  who  was  ever  to  endure  punish- 
ment. If  it  is  admitted  that  the  greater  part  of  the  book  of 
Revelation  is  difficult  to  be  comprehended  in  the  sense  of  the 
letter,  we  do  not  see  why  that  part  which  makes  mention  of  the 
resurrection  of  dead  bodies  should  be  received ;  for  ourseh-es,  the 
literal  account,  with  the  other  circumstances  which  are  insepara- 
bly connected  with  it,  appears  more  incredible  than  the  narration 


SENSUOUS   IDEAS    ON   THE   SUBJECT.  249 

concerninof  the  monsters  with  heads  hke  lions  and  tails  of  ser- 
pents,  breathing  fire,  smoke,  and  brimstone ;  for  the  one  gives  a 
representation  which,  strictly  speaking,  is  not  impossible,  but  the 
other  describes  scenes  to  take  place  which  could  not  occur  with- 
out acting  in  opposition  to  God's  attributes. 

Swedenborg  informs  us  that  the  reason  why  there  are  to  be 
found  texts  in  the  Scriptures  which  seemingly  teach  that  there  is 
to  be  a  resurrection  of  the  body  is,  because  the  mind  of  man, 
particularly  of  the  Jews  in  those  ages,  was  of  so  sensuous  a  na- 
ture, and  had  so  little  faith  in  spiritual  things,  and  of  a  life  after 
death,  that  if  this  belief  had  not  been  apparently  taught,  they 
would  not  have  believed  in  any  resurrection  whatever,  much  more 
of  the  soul.  The  ideas  of  this  primitive  age  Avere  wholly  sensu- 
ous, and  the  masses  did  not  believe  in  any  thing  except  that  which 
they  could  touch,  see,  feel,  and  taste.  As  they  could  not  with 
their  natural  eyes  see  and  feel  the  spirit  of  each  other,  they  dis- 
believed in  its  existence,  and  supposed  that  the  body  of  every  in- 
dividual was  the  man  himself ;  and  when  they  saw  this  body  put 
in  the  grave,  and  knew  that  in  time  it  would  decay  and  become 
incorporated  with  the  earth,  they  reasoned  that  there  was  an  end 
or  annihilation  of  their  friends.  That  this  was  the  belief  in  those 
ages  is  not  only  eAanced  from  the  fact  that  the  doctrine  of  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  is  not  once  mentioned  in  the  Mosaic  Law, 
and  was  not  taught  imtil  several  centuries  after,  but  is  also  shown 
by  the  surprise  which  was  evinced  by  the  multitude  when  our 
Saviour  answered  the  Sadducees  in  regard  to  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead,  and  informed  them  that  there  was  a  life  after  the 
death  of  the  body.  It  is  said  that  when  the  multitude  heard 
this  explanation,  theij  (so  wonderful  and  contrary  was  it  to  their 
sensuous  belief)  were  astonished  at  his  doctrine.  How  different 
is  the  belief  at  the  present  time !  for  now  the  public  mind  is 
so  much  improved  and  enlightened,  that  the  doctrine  of  a  life 
after  death  does  not  create  any  surprise,  and  is  generally  be- 
lieved. 

It  appears  to  us  that  the  time  is  fast  approaching  when  to  teach 
that  dead  bodies  will  arise  from  their  graves,  or  to  deny  that  man 
at  death  does  not  go  into  another  existence,  or,  in  other  words, 
depart  from  the  natural  world  into  the  spiritual,  will  be  like  deny- 
ing the  existence  of  the  Deity.     Christians,  in  regard  to  this  sub- 


250  THE    KESUERECTION. 

ject,  will  awake  as  from  a  dream,  and  be  astonished  to  see  how 
they  have  deluded  themselves. 

In  respect  to  the  judgment-day,  we  are  infoi-med  that  when 
man  dies  then  is  his  judgment-day — then  is  he  arraigned  before 
the  great  white  throne — then  are  the  books  opened  and  every 
man  judged  according  to  his  works.*  This  explanation  of  the 
judgment-dav  not  only  accords  with  reason,  but  is  fell  to  be  the 
truth  by  every  man  who  has  not  had  his  mind  darkened  by  false 
dogmas.  According  to  the  old  belief  it  is  as  much  a  man's  body, 
his  flesh  and  blood,  that  is  to  be  judged,  as  his  soul ;  indeed, 
some  claim  that  it  is  more,  and  if  the  body  was  not  judged  there 
would  be  no  judgment !  The  behef  that  when  man  dies  then  is 
his  judgment-day,  is  also  far  more  impressive  than  to  suppose 
that  it  is  not  to  take  place  for  many  ages  ;  for  it  admonishes  us 
ever  to  be  prepared,  and  that  one  at  any  moment  may  be  called 
to  be  judged  by  Heaven's  laws — but  the  other,  that  it  is  an  event 
altogether  indefinite  and  uncertain. 

We  ai-e  informed  that  the  events  related  in  the  Apocalypse  oc- 
cuiTed  precisely  in  the  manner  in  which  they  are  represented,  yet 
took  place  in  the  spiritual  world  instead  of  the  natural.  It  is 
stated  that  since  this  earth  has  had  an  existence  there  have  been 
several  judgments,  and  that  one  occuired  when  our  Saviour  came 

*  A  writer  in  reference  to  tliis  subject  observes,  "  No  article  of  any  creed 
in  Christendom  is  more  universally  or  unhesitatingly  held,  than  that  each 
individual  enters  at  death  upon  an  eternal  state  of  retribution.  According 
to  the  prevailing  moral  character  in  which  he  makes  his  exit  from  the  body, 
he  either  soars  an  angel  or  sinks  a  fiend.  Lazarus  died,  and  was  carried  by 
angels  to  Abraham's  bosom.  The  rich  man  also  died,  and  in  hell  lifted  up 
his  eyes,  being  in  torment.  This  is  a  virtual  judgment.  No  force  of  reason- 
ing can  rebut,  no  gloss  of  rhetoric  can  sophisticate  the  self-evident  position, 
that  an  act  of  the  divine  adjudication  which  seals  to  the  joys  of  heaven  or 
the  woes  of  hell  a  departing  spirit,  is  as  truly  a  sentence  of  life  or  death,  as 
real  an  award  of  eternal  judgment,  as  would  be  that  wliieh  should  be  pro- 
nounced in  the  thunder-tones  of  Sinai,  from  the  great  white  throne  visibly 
set  and  surrounded  by  circling  myriads  of  the  hosts  of  heaven.  Conse- 
quently, no  subsequent  judicial  sentence  can  be  conceived  as  reversing  that 
which  is  in  effect  passed  at  the  instant  the  soul  leaves  the  body ;  nor  can  the 
object  of  such  a  general  assize  as  is  usually  understood  to  be  announced 
under  the  title  of  the  general  judgment,  be  to  enact  d-e  ru>vo  a  process  which 
has  really  been  accomplished  upon  each  individual  of  the  race  as  he  entered, 
in  his  turn,  the  world  of  retribution."— X»oc.  of  the  Besurrectian,  ly  G.  Bush, 
1845. 


THE    GENERAL    JUDGMENT.  -251 

into  the  world.  That  this  was  the  case  is  not  only  evinced  from 
the  fact  that  at  that  period  the  obstacles  which  prevented  the 
Christian  religion  from  being  estabUshed  were  removed,  and  it 
was  enabled  to  gain  a  footing ;  but  it  is  also  shown  from  the 
words  of  the  Lord,  who  in  the  most  definite  manner  informs  us, 
that  at  that  time  those  existing  in  the  world  of  spirits  were  judged, 
and  that  Satan  as  lightning  fell  from  heaven.  Thus  he  says  (in 
John) :  "  Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world,  now  the  prince  of 
this  world  shall  be  cast  out."  Again  in  chap.  xvii.  31  :  "I  have 
overcome  the  world."  As  we  have  before  observed,  as  he  did  not 
on  this  occasion  overcome  any  prince  or  kingdom  of  this  world,  it 
is  evident  if  he  overcame  any,  it  was  the  pnnce  and  kingdom  of 
the  powers  of  darkness. 

According  to  Swedenborg,  the  general  judgment  mentioned  in 
Revelation  occui-red  in  the  world  of  spirits,  not  far  from  the  time 
of  the  French  Revolution.  We  are  informed  that  before  it  had 
taken  place,  myriads  of  evil  spirits  had  collected  together  in  the 
world  of  spirits,  which  is  neither  heaven  nor  hell,  but  an  intermedi- 
ate space,  and  had  there  by  their  evil  influences  and  agency  so  pre- 
vented the  light  of  truth  and  civilization  from  dawning,  that  little 
could  be  accompUshed,  and  it  appeared  as  if  the  earth  was  ever 
to  remain  enshrouded  in  ignorance  and  misery ;  but  that  when 
these  obstacles  were  removed,  the  evil  spirits  judged  and  im- 
prisoned, then  commenced  the  period  when  the  light  of  truth  was 
enabled  to  shine.  It  is  asserted  that  all  the  astonishing  discoveries 
and  improvements  which  have  been  made  during  the  nineteenth 
century,  have  arisen  primarily  from  this  cause. 

This  explanation  appears  to  us  as  tlie  only  rational  manner  in 
which  the  subject  can  be  viewed,  for  it  is  certainly  true  that  from 
some  cause'  those  obstacles  and  hindrances  which  have  prevented 
truth  and  civilization  from  dawning  have  been  removed,  and  the 
world  has  received  such  an  impetus  as  was  never  before  known. 
An  eminent  writer  (Dr.  Lardner),  in  a  recent  work,  states  that 
"  within  a  hundred  years  more  has  been  accomplished  in  facili- 
tating and  expediting  intercommunication  (and  civilization)  than 
was  effected  from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  the  middle  of  the 
last  centuiy."*     And  if  this  is  so,  if  it  is  true  that  science  is  ad- 

*  Eailway  Economy,  Chap.  XVI. 


252  THE    RESURRECTION. 

vancing  with  incomparable  rapidity,  then  is  it  clear  that  no  ordi- 
nary incident  has  occurred  in  the  hidden  world,  and  that  there  is 
ever}-  reason  to  believe  that  the  great  event  knowTi  as  the  general 
judgment  has  taken  place.*  The  belief  is  the  more  credible  from 
the  reason  the  world  of  spirits  is  the  woi-ld  of  causes,  and  hence 
a  great  change  would  there  necessarily  take  place  before  the  same 
occurred  on  this  earth.  S^vedenborg's  explanations  are  the  more 
beautiful,  as  they  exhibit  the  character  of  the  Deity  as  a  being  of 
love,  one  who  ever  watches  the  interests  of  mankind,  and  when 
the  fit  time  had  arrived,  when  they  had  become  sufficiently  edu- 
cated, giving  them  those  ideas  and  thoughts  which  enabled  them 
to  orisfinate  numerous  inventions  and  agencies  by  which  their 
happiness  might  be  increased  and  destiny  completed. 

The  fact  that  man  is  connected  with  the  spiritual  world,  and  is 
influenced  by  good  and  bad  spirits,  or,  w^hat  is  almost  synony- 
mous, good  and  evil  thoughts,  is  no  small  proof  of  Swedenborg's 
assertions.  It  is  true  that  at  the  present  time  e\'il  spirits  exercise 
their  influence,  yet  not  in  the  degree  which  they  did  before  the 
judgments  had  occurred  ;  for,  as  is  well  known,  before  the  Author 
of  Christianity  made  his  appearance  on  earth,  the  sacrificing  of 
hving  men,  women,  and  children  to  hideous  idols  was  of  common 
occurrence,  aiid  the  greater  part  of  the  race  were  in  the  bonds  of 
personal  slavery.  Compare  those  times  and  the  period  before  the 
final  judgment  with  the  present,  and  the  diff'erence  is  great  in- 
deed. Swedenborg's  views  in  regard  to  the  judgment,  and  that 
part  of  the  prophecy  which  informs  us  that  at  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  man  every  eye  shall  see  him,  are  also  confirmed  in  the 
folloAving  citations,  which,  though  others  have  been  given,  may 
not  be  altogether  inappropriate. 

The  London  Encyclopeedia  thus  mentions  the  subject :  "  The 
most  unthinking,  as  well  as  the  most  prejudiced,  must  be  struck 
with  the  fact  that  the  period  in  which  we  live  is  extraordinary 
and  momentous.     Amongst  the  great  body  of  the  people  an  un- 

*  For  further  particulars  concerning  the  Last  Judgmeut,  of  its  occurring 
in  the  spiritual  world,  of  the  connection  which  it  had  with  the  wars  and 
calamities  whicli  began  and  rose  with  the  French  Revolution,  the  reader  is 
referred  to  Noble's  .\ppeal,  p.  171,  in  which  the  subject  is  fully  examined, 
and  it  is  believed  conclusively  shown,  that  Swcdenborg  has  given  a  true  ex- 
planation of  this  most  important  belief. 


VARIOUS    TESTIMONIES.  253 

paralleled  revolution  is  at  work ;  they  have  awoke  from  that  ig- 
norance in  which  they  had  slept  for  ages,  and  have  sprung  up  in 
their  new  character  of  thinking  beings,  qualified  to  inquire  and  to 
discuss,  and  despising  both  the  despotism  and  the  bigotiy  that 
would  prohibit  or  impede  their  improvement.  The  intellectual 
spirit  is  moving  upon  the  chaos  of  minds  which  ignorance  and 
necessity  have  thrown  into  collusion  and  confusion,  and  the  result 
Avill  be  a  new  creation.  '  Nature,'  to  use  the  nervous  language 
of  an  old  writer,  '  will  be  melted  down  and  recoined,  and  all  will 
be  bright  and  beautiful.'  " 

A  writer  in  the  North  American  Review  says,  making  mention 
of  the  extraordinary  times  in  which  we  live,  that  "  Philosophy, 
since  it  was  directed  to  the  attainment  of  a  knowledge  of  the 
properties  and  laws  of  matter,  has  already  discovered  and  per- 
formed so  much,  that  the  commonest  necessaries  of  life  are  now 
the  production  of  the  most  comphcated  and  wonderful  inventions  ; 
and  the  condition  of  the  humble  peasant  in  point  of  solid  comfort 
and  luxury,  is  superior  to  that  of  the  wealthiest  noble  three  cen- 
turies ago  ;  the  conveniences  and  splendor  of  the  rich  are  such  as 
the  monarchs  of  old  never  imagined  even  in  their  wildest  dreams  ; 
and  the  common  and  daily  spectacles  of  life  are  of  such  a  charac- 
ter that  Avould  have  startled  our  ancestors  as  the  work  of  super- 
natural agency." 

Another  writer  in  the  Quarterly  Theological  Review,  adverting 
to  the  times,  says :  "  The  fountains  of  the  great  deep  have  been 
broken  up,  and  a  deluge  of  information,  theological,  scientific,  and 
civil,  is  carrying  all  before  it,  filling  up  the  valleys  and  scaling  the 
mountain-tops.  A  spirit  of  inquiry  has  gone  forth,  and  sits 
brooding  on  the  mind  of  man." 

Citations  like  the  above  can  be  found  in  most  of  our  periodicals, 
and  there  are  few  who  are  not  convinced  of  their  truth,  and  of 
the  fact  that  from  some  cause  a  new  era  has  opened  upon  the 
race,  and  the  way  is  prepared  by  which  evil  and  barbarism  may 
be  still  more  confined,  judged,  and  overcome.  We  are  aware 
that  there  are  those  who  highly  prize  what  is  written  in  the  literal 
sense  concerning  the  j  udgment  and  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and 
whom  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  by  any  argument  to  convince 
that  these  great  doctrines  were  to  be  taken  differently.  To  such 
our  observations  are  not  addressed,  and,  of  all  things,  we  would 


254  THE   RESUKRECTION. 

not  wish  to  disturb  their  belief;  but  those  whose  minds  are  free, 
and  who  are  dissatisfied  with  the  sensuous  doctrine,  we  would 
ask  to  give  the  New  Church  explanation  an  examination,  as  we 
are  satisfied  that  not  only  will  it  commend  itself  from  its  ration- 
ality, but  at  the  same  time  be  foimd  in  agreement  with  the 
Scriptures. 


SECTIOIT    xiy. 


THE   DIVINE   PROVIDENCE, 

When  one  reflects  upon  the  various  extraordinary  facts  of  reve- 
lation and  experience — upon  heaven  and  its  opposite — upon  God 
as  a  Being  without  beginning  or  end — upon  his  bowing  down  the 
heavens  and  appearing  on  this  earth  as  its  Saviour  and  Redeemer 
— upon  tlie  immensity  of  creation — upon  the  solemn  truth  that 
man  is  destined  to  live  forever — the  mind  is  lost  in  astonishment 
and  wonder,  is  cast  down  and  appears  "  as  nothing  and  less  than 
nothing,"  and  it  seems  as  the  vainest  of  all  things  even  to  attempt 
to  examine  and  pierce  these  great  subjects.  And  well  can  we 
imagine  that  in  times  gone  by,  when  no  key  of  biblical  mysteries 
was  given,  the  greatest  and  best  of  minds  Avere  lost  in  doubt,  and 
found  the  more  they  examined  the  more  their  perplexity  increased, 
until  it  was  concluded  that  it  was  useless  to  reason  concerning 
these  enigmas,  and  that  it  was  the  part  of  a  Christian  to  receive 
them  as  truth,  with  a  child-like  simplicity. 

But  under  the  new  dispensation  it  is  taught  that  it  is  not  im- 
possible to  compass  them ;  that  if  in  the  present  age  they  are  to 
be  received  as  truth,  they  must  be  comprehended ;  that  their 
vastness  must  not  prevent  our  examination ;  that  the  plan  and 
system  by  which  the  universe  is  governed  is  not  beyond  the 
knowledge  of  those  for  whom  it  was  formed ;  that  if  it  was,  man 
would  not  be  a  rational  being,  but  a  mere  automaton,  incapable 
of  self-action  or  improvement,  or  loving  the  Being  after  whose 
hkeness  and  image  he  was  formed. 

It  is  asserted  that  it  is  not  acting  a  wise  part,  at  the  present 
era.  to  cheiish  dear  though  mistaken  views  of  Scripture  truths ; 


256  THE    DIVINE    PEOVrOENCE. 

and  that  the  passage  in  which  it  is  said  "  no  man  shall  enter  the 
kingdom  of  God  except  as  a  little  child,"  does  not 'imply  that  we 
should  cease  from  further  inquiry,  for  it  is  stated  that  the  true 
interpretation  of  all  such  texts  is,  that  no  man  can  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  or  truth,  except  he  be  filled  Avith  a  spirit  of 
true  humility,  a  child-Uke  simplicity,  and  is  a  lover  of  truth  and 
virtue  for  their  own  sake.  To  such  it  is  affirmed  there  is  no  bar 
to  Scripture  knowledge.  Ever  to  them  in  the  most  affectionate 
manner  it  is  said,  "  Judge,  I  pray  you,  between  me  and  my  vine- 
yard ;  what  could  I  have  done  to  ray  vineyard  that  I  have  not 
done  ?" 

With  this  view  of  the  subject  we  shall  now  proceed,  very 
briefly,  to  sketch  some  of  the  leading  features  of  that  great  sys- 
tem by  which  the  Divine  Providence  governs  the  world.  And 
first,  we  shall  examine  whj^  such  passages  as  the  following  are 
repeatedly  found  in  the  Holy  Oracles.  Thus,  in  Isaiah  vi.  10  : 
"  Make  the  heart  of  this  people  fat,  and  make  their  ears  heavy, 
and  shut  their  eyes ;  lest  they  see  with  theii*  eyes,  and  hear  with 
their  ears,  and  understand  with  their  heart ;  and  convert  and  be 
healed."  Again,  in  John  xii.  40  :  "  He  hath  blinded  their  eyes, 
and  hardened  their  hearts,  that  they  should  not  see  with  their 
eyes,  nor  understand  with  their  heart,  and  be  converted  and 
saved."  Again,  in  Luke  viii. :  "  That  seeing  they  might  not  see, 
and  hearing  they  might  not  understand."  See  also  Matthew  xii. 
14  ;  Rom.  xi.  8,  10. 

From  the  above  passages  it  would  appear  that  God  is  the  most 
unjust  of  beings,  and  that  he  literally  bUnds  the  eyes  of  some  and 
so  hardens  their  heart,  that  they  can  not  understand  and  be 
saved.  But  under  the  heavenly  light  which  has  been  vouchsafed, 
an  explanation  is  given  of  this  apparent  injustice,  and  we  are  in- 
formed that  the  reason  why  some  are  so  blinded  that  seeing  they 
do  not  see,  or,  in  other  words,  when  they  read  the  Holy  Oracles 
cannot  discern  the  real  truth  which  lies  concealed  in  the  figu- 
rative language,  is  because  there  would  be  imminent  danger,  if 
they  were  so  permitted,  of  their  committing  the  greatest  of  crimes 
and  sins  which  they  could  render  themselves  guilty  of,  or  the 
sin  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which,  as  is  repeatedly  said,  is  neither 
forgiven  in  this  world  nor  the  woi'ld  to  come.  The  case  being 
the  same  as  if  a  sovereign  should  inform  his  subjects  that  he  had 


d 

EFFECTS    OF    PROFANATION.  257 

m  his  possession  a  certain  knowledge,  which  would  coiifor  on 
those  who  possessed  it  the  greatest  happiness,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  could  be  obtained  only  by  rendering  one's  self  liable  to 
certain  fearful  conditions;  as,  for  instance,  that  all  who  came  into 
the  possession  of  the  arcanum  must  fulfil  what  it  required,  or 
suffer  such  anouish  and  tortures  as  would  render  life  unendurable. 
Now  it  can  be  supposed  that  if  a  sovereign  was  in  the  possession 
of  such  knowledge,  he  would  use  the  utmost  precaution  in  pre- 
venting it  from  being  known  by  those  who  would  be  unable  to 
comply  with  the  conditions ;  and  this,  Swedenborg  informs  us,  is 
the  grand  reason  why  the  Word  of  God  is  so  clothed  in  figurative 
and  allegorical  language,  and  that  so  many  are  blinded  that  they 
cannot  see  its  real  truths.  It  is  stated  that  God  has  so  caused  it 
to  be  written,  that  those  who  cannot  be  kept  in  the  belief,  may 
not,  when  they  go  into  another  existence,  rush  into  the  greatest 
of  torments.  He  informs  us  that  even  in  this  life  we  can  have 
some  idea  of  the  penalty  which  is  paid  when  one  is  in  the  posses- 
sion of  moral  and  religious  truths,  and  who  will  not  fulfil  their  re- 
quirements. Thus,  let  the  case  of  one  be  taken  who  has  been 
well  educated,  and  knows  what  is  his  duty ;  who  is  satisfied  in  re- 
gard to  the  authenticity  of  the  Scriptures,  and  of  the  existence  of 
the  Supreme  Ruler,  and  of  future  rewards  and  punishments ; 
who  sees  the  importance  and  necessity  of  his  leading  a  moral  and 
virtuous  life  ;  who  has  gained  to  himself  a  conscience  ;  let,  we  say, 
such  an  individual  fall  away,  and  either  secretly  or  openly  com- 
mit some  grievous  ofi'ence,  and  how  does  the  truth  which  he  ac- 
quired when  an  honest  man  torment  him  !  What  reproaches 
does  it  cast  upon  him,  and  how  loudly  does  it  speak  of  the  day 
of  future  retribution  !  Indeed,  imprisonment  and  other  modes  of 
punishment  are  slight  in  comparison  with  the  mental  suffering 
which  such  a  man  endures  ;  and  just  in  proportion  to  his  knowl- 
edge of  moral  truths,  and  former  practice  of  them,  does  he  suffer. 
Ever,  hke  Glyndon  in  Zanoni,  does  he  see  the  dread  features  of 
the  unutterable  horror ;  and  it  is  only  by  doing  what  truth  re- 
quires, by  leading  a  new  life,  that  he  is  enabled  to  gain  his  former 
tranquillity,  and  bear  the  gaze  of  the  Dweller  of  the  Threshold.* 
Thus  it  is  far  better  for  the  man  who  intends  to  be  the  villain, 

*  See  Bulwers  Zanoni. 
17 


258  THE   DIVINE   PKOVIDENCE. 

that  he  never  should  be  let  into  the  arcana  of  Heaven's  truths, 
never  know  what  it  is  to  possess  high  moral  feelmgs  and  an 
exalted  conscience,  for  then  he  would  never  experience  its  re- 
proaches and  suffer  its  tortures.* 

Such  a  man  can  never  come  into  the  real  truths  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. To  him  the  Bible  is  a  sealed  book ;  seeing  he  does  not 
see,  and  hearing  he  does  not  hear,  except,  it  may  be,  to  select 
those  passages  and  texts  which  confirm  him  in  the  most  errone- 
ous of  beliefs.  This  was  the  rf^ason  why  the  Jews  were  not  per- 
mitted to  understand  the  arcanum  of  the  Holy  Oracles,  and 
believed  the  Saviour  was  to  come  as  a  mighty  prince,  and  also 
why  there  are  ^o  many  conflicting  sects  in  the  Christian  world  ; 
it  being  the  great  law  of  the  Divine  Pro\'idence  to  do  for  the 
world  the  best  that  can  be  done :  for  instance,  God  desires  as  an 


*  "  In  regard  to  the  profanation  of  truth,  the  case  is  this :  divine  truth  can 
in  nowise  he  profaned,  except  by  those  who  have  before  acknowledged  it; 
for  such,  having  first  entered  into  truth  by  acknowledgment  and  belief,  and 
having  thus  been  initiated  into  it,  when  tliey  afterwards  recede  from  it  there 
continually  remains  its  trace  or  footstep  inwardly  impressed,  which  is  re- 
called at  the  same  time  with  the  false  and  evil,  and  hence  the  truth,  because 
it  adheres  to  them,  is  profaned ;  those,  therefore,  with  whom  this  is  the 
case,  have  continually  in  themselves  that  which  condemns,  thus  their  own 
hell ;  for  the  internals,  when  they  approach  towards  the  sphere  where  good 
and  truth  is,  are  instantly  sensible  of  their  own  hell,  for  they  come  into  that 
which  they  account  hateful,  consequently  into  torment ;  they,  therefore, 
who  have  profaned  truth,  dwell  continually  with  that  which  torments  them, 
and  this  according  to  the  degree  of  profanation :  because  this  is  so,  it  is  most 
especially  provided  by  the  Lord  that  divine  good  and  truth  may  not  be  pro- 
faned ;  and  it  is  provided  principally  by  this,  that  man,  who  is  such  that  he 
cannot  otlierwise  than  profane,  is  witliheld,  as  far  as  possible,  from  the  ac- 
knowledgment and  belief  of  truth  and  good :  for,  as  was  said,  no  one  can 
profane  but  he  who  has  before  acknowledged  and  believed.  This  was  the 
cause  that  internal  truths  were  not  discovered  to  the  posterity  of  Jacob,  the 
Israelites  and  Jews,  nor  was  it  even  openly  declared  that  there  was  any  in- 
ternal in  man,  thus  that  there  was  any  internal  worship,  and  scarce  any 
thing  was  said  concerning  a  life  after  death,  and  concerning  the  heavenly 
kingdom  of  the  Lord,  or  of  the  Messiah  whom  they  expected ;  the  reason 
was,  because  they  were  such  that  it  was  foreseen  that  if  such  things  had 
been  discovered  to  them,  they  could  not  have  done  otherwise  than  to  pro- 
fane tiicm,  inasmuch  as  they  had  no  will  for  any  thing  but  what  was  terres- 
trial ;  and  because  that  generation  was  such,  and  also  is  such  at  present,  it 
is  likewise  still  permitted  that,  they  should  be  altogether  in  a  state  of  unbe- 
lief; for  if  they  had  once  acknowledged,  and  afterwards  receded,  they  must 
needs  have  induced  upon  themselves  the  most  grievous  of  all  hells." — A.  C. 


PROVIDENTIAL    PERMISSIONS.  259 

object  for  which  he  exercises  his  omnipotence,  that  the  world 
may  be  regenerated  and  restored ;  but  this  cannot  be  done  in- 
stantaneously, as  man  is  free,  and  this  freedom  must  be  re- 
spected ;  hence  the  Supreme  Ruler  acts  in  a  progressive  manner, 
and  when  it  is  found  that  there  are  those  of  so  evil  and  fallen  a 
nature  that  they  will  act  a  ruinous  part,  they  are  permitted  to  do 
so ;  yet  at  the  same  time  the  great  Being  so  arranges  that  as  lit- 
tle evil  as  possible  shall  result  from  the  ti-ansgression.  Thus  in 
reward  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Bible  was  written :    it  was 

o 

foreseen  that  its  figurative  language  would  cause  it  to  be  misun- 
derstood by  many,  and  the  Church  would  be  divided  into  a  mul- 
titude of  sects ;  yet  it  was  better  that  this  should  occur,  than  to 
give  to  the  world  a  Bible  Avith  the  naked  truths  exhibited  ;  for 
in  this  case  it  would  have  been  believed  and  disbelieved,  and 
thus  truth  would  have  been  profaned,  and  the  fearful  consequen- 
ces resulted,  which  the  Divine  Providence,  above  all  other  things, 
endeavors  to  avoid.* 

This  explanation  throws  light  upon  all  those  great  points  in 

*  "The  reason  why  it  was  permitted  that  internal  worship  should  perish 
and  external  remain,  was,  in  order  to  prevent  the  profanation  of  what  is 
holy,  which  brings  with  it  eternal  damnation.  None  can  profane  what  is 
holy,  e.\cept  such  as  possess  the  knowledges  of  faith,  and  at  the  same  time 
acknowledge  them ;  and  they  who  do  not  possess  them,  cannot  acknowl- 
edge them,  much  less  can  tliey  profane  them.  Internal  things  are  those 
which  are  capable  of  being  profaned,  because  it  is  in  them  that  the  holy 
resides,  but  not  in  things  external.  The  case,  in  this  respect,  is  like  that  of 
a  man  who  does  evil,  and  yet  does  not  think  evil ;  in  which  case  the  evil 
which  he  does  cannot  be  imputed  to  him,  any  more  than  it  can  be  imputed 
where  it  was  not  done  intentionally,  or  where  the  perpetrator  is  not  pos- 
sessed of  rationality.  Thus  he  who  does  not  believe  in  a  life  after  death, 
but  still  performs  external  worship,  cannot  profane  the  things  appertaining 
to  eternal  life,  because  he  does  not  believe  in  their  existence  ;  but  it  is  oth- 
erwise with  those  who  are  acquainted  with  and  acknowledge  them.  This, 
likewise,  is  the  reason,  why  it  is  permitted  a  man  ratlier  to  live  in  pleasures 
and  lusts,  and  thereby  to  remove  himself  from  things  internal,  than  to  come 
to  the  knowledge  and  acknowledgment  of  them,  and  to  profane  them. 
For  this  cause  it  is  permitted  the  Jews  at  this  day  to  immerse  themselves 
in  avarice,  that  thereby  tliey  may  be  further  removed  from  the  acknowl- 
■  edgment  of  internal  things :  because  they  are  such  a  people,  that  if  they 
did  acknowledge  them,  they  would  certainly  profane  them  ;  nothing  more 
removes  from  things  internal  than  avarice,  because  it  is  a  lust  in  the  lowest 
degree  terrestrial.  The  case  is  similar  with  many  within  the  Church,  and 
also  with  the  Gentiles  without  the  Church  ;  these,  viz.,  the  Gentiles,  are 
least  of  all  capable  of  profanation." — A.  C.  1327. 


260  THE    DIVINE    PROVIDENCE. 

the  Scriptures  which  lieretofore  have  been  shrouded  in  impenetra- 
ble darkness,  and  considered  the  most  inexplicable  of  all  things. 
Thus  it  tells  us  why  the  account  of  the  creation  of  the  world  and 
the  fall  of  man  is  written  in  the  form  of  an  allegory.  This  being  so 
worded,  as  has  been  before  shown,  that  the  simple  and  unlearned 
niiglit  have  some  idea  of  creation  and  of  the  fall.  "If  a  scientific 
statement  had  been  given  of  the  formation  of  the  world,  and  a 
history  of  the  virtue  and  happiness  in  which  the  first  race  existed, 
it  would  have  been  incomprehensible  to  those  living  at  the  time 
the  revelations  were  given,  and  hence  would  have  been  useless. 
The  account  as  it  now  is,  or  in  its  literal  sense,  was  to.  them,  as 
it  is  to  many  of  the  present  day,  perfectly  satisfactory." 

It  also  tells  us  why,  when  God  bowed  the  heavens  and  took 
upon  himself  man's  nature,  he  permitted  himself  to  be  called, 
in  various  parts  of  the  Scriptures,  the  Son  of  God  and  Son 
of  man,  apparently  as  if  there  were  two  Gods.  This  heresy 
being  permitted,  rather  than  that  the  sensuous  mind  should 
pollute  and  profane  divine  subjects,  as  it  would  have  done  if 
it  had  been  plainly  and  without  a  veil  taught  that  Jesus  was 
God. 

It  tells,  also,  why  so  many  in  all  ages  believed  that  God's  om- 
nipotence was  so  boundless  that  it  had  no  respect  to  law  and 
order,  and  was  capable  of  accomplishing  any  thing — even  to  re- 
generating and  civilizing  the  world  in  a  day.  This  being  permit- 
ted, because  it  was  essential  that  man,  in  those  barbarous  ages, 
and  sensuous  minds  in  the  present  time,  should  look  with  awe 
upon  the  Divinity,  and  to  the  utmost  of  their  powers  obey  and 
respect  him.  If  the  real  truth  had  been  given,  the  most  perni- 
cious fallacies  would  have  risen  concerning  the  divine  omnipotence, 
and  which  in  time  would  have  caused  the  divine  attribute  to  be 
disbelieved,  and  the  existence  of  God  doubted. 

It  informs  us,  also,  why  the  doctiine  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
natural  body  was  taught,  this  being  done,  as  we  have  mentioned, 
because  of  the  sensuous  nature  of  the  mind,  which  in  general, 
and  until  enlightened,  believes  in  nothing  which  is  incapable  of 
being  rendered  obvious  to  the  sight,  touch,  and  hearing ;  and  if 
the  belief  had  not  been  permitted,  the  motto  which  is  adopted 
by  many  of  the  present  day  would  have  been  rigidly  adhered  to, 
and  which  is,  that  "  if  there  is  no  resurrecti  ,n  of  the  natural  body 


PROVIDENTIAL    PERMISSIONS.  261 

there  is  no  future  life,"  and  hence  would  have  rushed  into  the 
grossest  superstitions  and  skepticism. 

It  also  informs  us  why  sensuous  views  of  the  final  judgment 
were  taught ;  this  being  done,  not  only  because  every  man  is  to 
be  judged,  but  because  it  was  of  the  last  importance  that  the 
terrific  truth  should  be  known ;  and  to  present  the  momentous 
subject  in  the  most  striking  manner,  and  so  that  it  could  not  be 
migunderstood  by  any,  even  by  the  heathen,  the  greatest  of  mira- 
cles were  wrought,  and  repeated  cautions  and  warnings  given  ; 
and  at  the  same  time  the  most  awful  imagery  was  exhibited,  it 
being  asserted  that  the  judgment  should  take  place  on  the  last 
day  of  the  earth's  existence,  and  the  pains  of  hell  were  described 
as  of  the  most  dreadful  character,  and  even  similar  to  those 
which  would  be  experienced  if  one  should  be  cast  into  a  lake  and 
furnace  of  fire.  If,  in  the  early  age  in  which  the  Scriptures  were 
given,  that  which  most  influences  man,  or  his  sense  of  fear,  had 
not  thus  been  acted  upon,  and  the  real  truth  taught,  it  can  well 
be  supposed  that  religious  subjects,  and  a  judgment  to  come, 
would  have  had  little  weight,  and  the  great  bond  which  holds 
society  together  would  have  been  rent  asunder.* 

But  it  may  be  said,  that  if  it  is  not  true  that  the  world  was 
created  as  apparently  recorded  in  Genesis — that  there  is  not  a 
Son  of  God — not  to  be  a  general  resurrection  of  the  dead — 
not  a  general  judgment,  then  the  Bible  asserts  to  that  Avhich  is 
not  the  truth,  and  man  for  past  ages  has  been  deceived.  But  to 
this  we  reply,  that  the  grand  principles  upon  which  the  Holy 
Oracles  are  constructed  are  the  same  as  those  upon  which  the 

*  An  eminent  writer  on  this  subject  says : 

"As  the  'Books,'  then,  are  a  mere  figure,  a  part  of  the  costume  of  the 
scene,  we  infer  the  same  as  to  the  '  throne'  and  its  occupancy  by  a  visible 
judge.  The  wliole  is  emblematic,  and  not  real.  God  does  not  sit  upon  a 
throne^  nor  does  he,  like  earthly  monarchs,  keep  written  archives  of  the 
affairs  of  his  kingdom.  The  imagery  portrayed  is  in  accordance  with  our 
common  notions  of  judicial  proceedings,  and  thus  hest  calculated  to  lyroduce 
tlie  practical  effect  d-e^igned.  To  the  great  mass  of  men  of  all  ages,  such  a 
representation  will  appeal  with  more  power  than  any  other,  while  at  the 
same  time,  as  the  moral  reason  is  developed  and  educated,  the  scenery  will 
gradually  resolve  itself  into  an  inward  process,  the  necessary  result  of  char- 
acter, and  fixing  one's  spiritual  and  eternal  state  by  an  established  law.  If 
men  were  universally  elevated  in  this  life  above  the  sphere  of  the  sensuous, 
this  more  abstract  view  of  the  subject  would  be  all  that  would  be  requisite 


262  THE    DIVINE    PROVIDENCE. 

material  world  is  formed,  the  author  of  the  one  being  the  authoi 
of  the  other.  "  The  Book  of  Nature  informs  us,  that  the  sun 
courses  through  the  heavens,  and  rises  in  the  east  and  sets  in  the 
west,  and  there  are  thousands  and  millions  who  believe  this  to 
be  a  real  truth,  and  whom  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  to  con- 
vince to  the  contrary."  So  also  in  regard  to  the  moon:  it  in- 
forms us  this  is  the  great  light,  and,  next  to  the  sun,  the  largest 
body  in  the  solar  system.  It  asserts  that  the  fixed  stars  are  but 
twinkling  hghts,  made  to  shine  in  the  night.  Now  it  is  as  ra- 
tional to  say  that  the  Book  of  Nature  speaks  falsely,  as  to  affirm 
the  Book  of  God  does ;  for  the  optical  illusion  concerning  the 
size  of  the  moon  and  stars  is  comprehended,  and  "  it  is  under- 
stood what  is  designated,  when  it  is  said  that  the  sun  has  risen, 
and  it  is  known  that  it  is  an  apparent  truth  spoken  from  custom, 
and  for  the  purpo.se  of  accommodating  ourselves  to  the  minds  of 
those  who  cannot  understand  otherwise."  And  this  is  the  grand 
principle  upon  which  the  Bible  is  constructed  ;  it  being  written 
for  all  ages,  and  for  those  who  cannot  understand  its  hidden  ar- 
cana, and  whom  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  to  show  that  its 
apparent  truths  were  not  real.  Thus  take  those  passages  in  which 
it  is  said  that  God  is  a  being  of  wrath  and  vengeance :  how  true 
does  this  appear  to  many !  They  cannot,  because  of  their  evil 
nature,  see  the  real  truth — that  God  is  a  being  of  love,  and  ever 
to  them  he  appears  as  a  burning  and  consuming  fire. 

The  objections  which  may  be  urged  against  the  Bible  beino- 
Avritten  as  it  is,  cannot  stand  for  a  moment,  when  it  is  considered 
that  its  figurative  language  never  relates  to  what  is  not  in  the 
main  true ;  the  chief  difference  being  in  the  description  and  time 
when  the  different  incidents  are  to  occiu".    Thus,  in  regard  to  the 

to  exercise  the  most  ample  control  over  their  practical  conduct;  for  to  the 
reflecting  mind,  there  can  be  no  higher  sanction  to  a  moral  law,  than  that 
in  its  own  nature,  and  by  its  inevitable  consequences,  it  works  out  weal  or 
woe  to  its  subject,  according  as  he  obeys  or  violates  it.  But  the  mass  of 
men  are  not  reflectin{f  ;  they  are  habitually  incompetent  to  appreciate  the 
force  of  purely  moral  considerations,  and  therefore  the  wisdom  and  benig- 
nity of  Jehovah  have  accommodated  their  revelations  of  human  destiny  to 
the  intellectual  infirmities  of  the  race.  They  are.communicated  through  a 
medium  that  shall  address  itself  to  their  imaginations.  They  are  set  forth 
under  the  guise  of  symbols  and  images  calculated  to  work  on  their  hopes 
and  fears,  and  to  move  the  reason  through  the  machinery  of  the  passions."— 
Doctrine  of  the  Resurrection  of  tJie  Body,  by  G.  Bush.  1845. 


DIFFICULTIES    SOLVED.  263 

resurrection,  the  appearance  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  the  final 
judgment;  they  (when  Avritten)  were  figuratively  described  as 
events  which  were  to  happen ;  and  this  is  truth  itself ;  for  the 
Son  of  man  has  already  made  his  spiritual  advent,  and  the  resur- 
rection of  every  man  takes  place  when  his  soul  leaves  its  body, 
as  also  is  he  then  arraigned  and  judged.  And  it  is  the  same  in 
regard  to  heaven  and  hell — both  exist,  and  the  good  enjoy  in  the 
one,  and  the  wicked  sutler  in  the  other ;  yet  both  enjoyment  and 
sutFering  are  not  to  be  understood  as  figuratively  represented,  but 
as  the  inner  sense  teaches,  and  with  which  reason  concurs. 

This  explanation  avoids  all  difficulties  which  might  be  brought 
forward,  and  enables  one  to  look  back  upon  the  Scriptures,  and 
the  time  when  he  first  began  to  be  instructed  in  its  truths,  in  the 
same  manner  as  a  retrograde  glance  is  cast  upon  the  period  when 
he  was  a  child,  and  gradually  went  on  step  by  step  increasing 
his  knowledge,  and  giving  up  old  beliefs  and  acquiring  new 
truths.  With  equal  consistency  a  man  might  find  fault  with  the 
manner  in  which  he  was  first  instructed,  as  to  object  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  Bible  is  written ;  for  his  parents  in  his  earlier 
years,  under  the  guise  of  allegory  and  fable,  concealed  the  real 
truth  concerning  many  subjects  in  reference  to  which  the  time 
had  not  arrived  when  he  should  be  informed,  or  was  capable  of 
comprehending.  And  if  the  good  faith  in  which  they  acted  can- 
not be  questioned,  it  appears  to  us  as  most  irrational  to  have 
aught  to  say  concerning  the  figurative  language  of  the  Holy 
Oracles,  and  what  it  taught  when  we  were  as  children  to  its 
truths.  So  far  from  objecting  to  it  on  this  account,  we  know  of 
nothing  in  all  God's  dealings  with  man,  which  in  a  greater  de- 
gree calls  for  our  gratitude,  and  that  evinces  in  a  more  surprising 
manner  his  wisdom  and  providence ;  for  now  to  the  wondering 
gaze  of  man  is  revealed  the  arcana  of  a  volume  which  for  ages 
has  defied  the  attempts  of  the  wisest ;  and  it  is  seen  to  be  a  reve- 
lation, which  not  only  was  capable  of  accommodating  itself  to  the 
barbarous  nations  among  whom  it  was  made,  which  not  only  has 
a  stoi'e  of  truths  for  the  present  enlightened  generation,  and  ■will 
present  new  fields  for  the  Christian  philosopher  for  ages  to  come, 
but  is  a  volume  whose  apparent  truths  are  to  rank  with  those  of 
the  Book  of  Nature,  and  be  considered  equally  rational  and  im- 
movable.    We  are  even  taught  that  the  Woi-d  of  God  is  studied 


264  THE   DIVINE   PROVIDENCE. 

in  another  life,  and  there  forms  a  perpetual  source  of  satisfaction 
and  improvement  to  those  who  are  interested  in  examining  its 
arcana. 

The  axiom  that  truth  is  not  to  be  told  at  all  times,  or  that  "  a 
word  fitly  spoken  is  like  apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver,"  is 
one  of  the  most  ancient  of  those  wise  maxims  whieh  have  been 
handed  down,  and  is  one  of  those  principles  upon  which  every 
piaident  man  acts ;  and  the  chief  difference  between  the  course 
which  the  Bible  takes  and  that  ^hich  governs  a  man  of  discre- 
tion is,  that  the  one,  if  necessary,  is  able  to  be  silent  and  in  mnu- 
merable  ways  to  accommodate  himself  to  those  with  whom  he 
converses,  which  the  Scriptures  are  not  altogether  capable  of  do- 
ing, though  they  do  in  no  small  degree,  and,  as  St.  Paul  says,  are 
"  all  things  to  all  men  ;"  denouncing  and  cautioning  the  wicked — 
encouraging  the  weak — exhibiting  the  Deity  to  some  as  a  Being 
of  wiath  and  vengeance,  to  others  in  the  character  of  a  loving 
father,  and  maintaining  a  silence  like  that  of  the  grave  to  those 
who  are  unprepared  to  enter  its  arcana. 

If  the  Scriptures  are  examined,  it  will  be  found  that  there  are 
few  parts  in  which  the  principle  we  have  advocated  is  not  carried 
out,  and  mention  made  of  those  who  seeing  did  not  see,  and 
hearing  did  not  hear.  Ever  is  it  taught,  "  Speak  not  in  the  ears 
of  a  fool,  for  he  will  despise  the  wisdom  of  thy  words"  (Prov. 
xxii.)  We  are  told  by  the  Saviour  "  to  give  not  that  which  is 
holy  unto  dogs,  neither  cast  ye  your  pearls  before  swine,  lest  they 
trample  them  under  their  feet  and  turn  again  and  rend  you." 
The  danger  resulting  from  a  profanation  of  tnith  is  particularly 
set  forth  in  Luke  xi.  24.  Thus  it  is  said,  "  When  the  unclean 
spirit  is  gone  out  of  a  man,  he  walketh  through  dry  places  seek- 
ing rest ;  and  finding  none,  he  saith,  I  will  return  unto  my  house 
whence  I  came  out.  And  when  he  cometh  he  findeth  it  swept 
and  garnished.  Then  goeth  he  and  taketh  to  him  seven  other 
spirits  more  wicked  than  himself,  and  they  enter  in  and  dwell 
there ;  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first." 
By  the  unclean  spirit  going  out  of  a  man,  is  designated  that  pe- 
riod of  time  in  Avhich  he  embraces  moral  and  religious  tmths  and 
leads  a  new  Ufe.  By  the  return  of  the  unclean  spirit  with  others 
more  wicked  than  himself,  is  exhibited  his  rejection  of  his  reli- 
gious views,  and  relapse  into  former  evils;    and  bv  his  last  state 


SIGNIFICATION  OF  CHERUBIM.  265 

being  worse  than  the  first,  that  it  would  have  been  far  better  if 
he  had  never  attempted  a  reformation — had  seen  and  not  seen, 
as  he  then  would  not  have  profaned  and  rushed  into  greater  evils 
and  unhappiness.  The  same  views  were  also  exhibited  by  the 
Lord  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda,  and  when  the  one  cured  was  told 
to  sin  no  more,  lest  a  woi'se  thing  happen  to  him.  The  truth 
that  there  were  arcana  in  the  Scriptures  which  were  not  to  be 
openly  taught,  was  partially  known  by  some  of  the  primitive 
writers.  Thus  St.  Cyril,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  in  A.  D.  412,  in 
hLs  eighth  book  against  Julian,  gravely  obsen-es  :  "  These  myste- 
ries are  so  profound  and  so  exalted  that  they  can  be  compre- 
hended by  those  only  who  are  enhghtened.  I  shall  not,  therefore, 
attempt  to  speak  of  what  is  most  admirable  in  them,  lest  by  dis- 
covering them  to  the  uninitiated,  I  should  offend  against  the 
injunction  not  to  give  what  is  holy  to  the  impure — not  to  cast 
pearls  before  such  as  cannot  estimate  their  worth." 

Theodoret,  Bishop  of  Cyzicus,  in  Syria,  A.  D.  420,  in  his  dia- 
logue entitled  "The  Immutable,"  introduces  Orthodoxas  speaking 
thus  :  "  Answer  me,  if  you  please,  in  mystical  and  obscure  terms ; 
for,  perhaps,  there  are  persons  present  who  are  not  initiated  in 
the  mysteries."  • 

Swedenborg  informs  us,  that  by  the  cherubim  placed  in  the 
garden  of  Eden,  and  a  flaming  sword  turning  hither  and  thither 
to  guard  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life,  is  figuratively  represented  the 
means  which  God  has  taken  to  guard  the  Holy  of  Holies,  or  the 
inner  truths  of  the  Scriptures.*  It  is  stated  that  the  same  thing 
is  signified  by  the  cherubs  of  gold  placed  upon  the  two  extremities 
of  the  propitiatory,  which  was  upon  the  ark  in  the  tabernacle. — 
Exod.  XXV.  18-21. 

But  it  may  be  said,  that  if  it  is  true  that  the  Holy  Oracles  are 
written  in  a  symbolical  manner,  and  have  that  contained  within 
them  which,  if  openly  exhibited,  would  cause  the  greatest  calami- 
ties, then  why  has  Swedenborg  come  forward  and  given  an  ex- 

*  A  writer  truly  say-?,  that  "truth,  naked  truth,  in  sacred  matters,  is 
like  the  sun  in  its  brightness,  wliich  mortal  eye  cannot  steadfastly  view 
without  being  dazzled ;  but  allegory,  the  picture  or  semblance  of  truth,  is 
compared  to  the  Iris,  the  reflected  image  of  the  sun,  which  we  behold  with 
wonder  and  gaze  at  with  ease."  "  The  mind,"  says  a  pious  philosopher, 
"attaches  itself  with  higher  satisfaction  to  the  rainbow  of  fable,  than  to  the 
resplendent  sun  of  simple  trut'i." 


266  THE    DIVINE    PROVIDENCE. 

planation  of  its  arcana  ?  To  this  we  reply,  that  the  reason  why 
he  Avas  permitted  to  open  the  Book  sealed  with  seven  seals  and 
explain  it,  was  because,  if  the  real  truth  had  been  for  a  longer 
period  concealed,  its  authenticity  would  have  been  doubted  and 
discredited.  The  time  liad  also  arrived  when  there  were  those 
who  could  be  let  within  the  inner  veil  and  be  kept  in  the  knowl- 
edge. But  there  are  other  motives  Avhich  render  it  safe  for  the 
Divine  Providence  to  give,  at  the  present  time,  a  key  to  biblical 
mysteries ;  and  the  chief  are,  tht  gross  materialism  and  infidelity 
of  the  age,  particularly  the  skepticism  of  learned  men.*  This, 
and  the  universal  prejudice  with  which  the  subject  is  \newed, 
act  as  so  many  guards  or  chenibim,  who  continually  wave  the 

*  "In  old  time  tliey  were  called  serpents  wlio  trusted  to  things  of  sense 
more  than  to  things  revealed.  The  case  is  worse  at  this  day,  for  there  are 
not  only  persons  v.'ho  believe  nothing,  unless  they  sec  and  feel  it,  but  also 
those  who  confirm  themselves  by  seientifics  unknown  to  the  ancients,  and 
thus  blind  themselves  much  the  more.  That  it  may  be  known  how  they 
who  form  conclusions  respecting  things  celestial  from  things  sensual,  scien- 
tifical,  and  philosophical,  blind  themselves,  so  that  they  afterwards  see  and 
hear  absolutel}'  nothing,  and  are  not  only  deaf  serpents,  but  also  flying  ser- 
pents, which  are  much  more  pernicious,  and  are  likewise  spoken  of  in  the 
Worcf,  let  us  take,  for  example,  what  they  believe  concerning  spirit.  He 
who  is  sensual,  or  believes  only  liis  senses,  denies  the  existence  of  spirit 
because  he  does  not  see  it ;  saying.  It  is  nothing,  because  I  am  not  sensible 
of  it :  what  I  see  and  touch,  that  I  know  exists.  The  scientific  man,  or  he 
■who  forms  his  conclusions  from  the  sciences,  says,  What  is  spirit  but  per- 
chance a  vapor  or  heat,  or  something  else  appertaining  to  science,  which 
vanishes  as  soon  as  such  vapor  or  heat  are  extinguished  ?  have  not  animals 
also  bodies,  senses,  and  something  analogous  to  reason  ?  and  yet  they  call 
them  mortal,  and  the  spirit  of  man  immortal ;  thus  he  denies  that  spirit 
exists.  PhOosophieal  men,  who  wish  to  have  more  discernment  than  others, 
speak  of  spirit  in  terms  which  they  themselves  are  unacquainted  with,  as  is 
evident  from  their  disputing  about  them,  contending  that  not  a  single  ex- 
pression is  applicable  which  draws  any  thing  from  the  material,  organic,  or 
extended ;  thus  they  remove  it  from  their  ideas,  so  that  it  vanishes  in  re- 
spect to  them,  and  becomes  nothing.  Xevertheless,  the  more  sane  assert 
spirit  to  be  a  thinking  principle  ;  but  when  they  reason  about  this  thinking 
principle,  in  consequence  of  separating  it  from  the  substantial,  they  at 
length  conclude  that  it  must  vanish  when  the  body  dies.  Thus  all  who  rea- 
son (alone)  from  things  sensual,  scientific,  and  philosophical,  deny  the  exist- 
ence of  spirit,  and  in  so  doing  they  become  altogether  incredulous  as  to 
whatever  is  asserted  in  relation  to  spirit  and  spiritual  things.  But  if  the 
simple  in  heart  are  questioned  concerning  the  spirit,  they  say  that  they 
know  it  e.Kists,  because  the  Lord  has  said  that  they  should  live  after  death"; 
these  do  not  extinguish  their  rational,  but  cause  it  to  live  by  the  Word  of 
the  Lord." — A.  C,  196. 


OTHER   CELESTIAL    GUARDS.  267 

glittering  sword  before  the  tree  of  life ;  and  among  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  celestial  guards  is  the  belief  which  is  taught, 
viz.,  that  if  a  man  is  learned,  and  possessed  of  rare  endowments, 
he  above  all  others  is  capable  of  seeing  and  judging  concernino- 
religious  truths.  It  is  asserted,  that  if  such  men  are  ignorant 
of  the  truth  of  the  New  Dispensation,  or  believe  it  to  be  an 
imposition,  then  it  must  be.  But  it  need  hardly  be  said,  that 
never  was  a  more  erroneous  conclusion  promulgated.  The  mere 
fact  that  such  men  as  Voltaire,  Gibbon,  and  Hume,  were  unable 
to  see  and  believe  the  tmths  of  the  Christian  religion,  alone  evin- 
ces its  falsity,  and  proves  that  something  else  is  necessary  than 
mere  scientific  attainments  to  enable  us  to  enter  into  the  arcana 
of  the  Scriptures  and  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Another  shield  which  has  in  no  small  degree  prevented  the 
truths  of  the  New  Church  from  being  believed  and  disbelieved,  is 
the  peculiar  manner  in  which  they  are  explained  by  Swedenborg ; 
and  in  this  are  plainly  exhibited  marks  of  the  Divine  Providence ; 
for  he,  instead  of  speaking  with  great  plainness  of  speech,  as  we 
have  attempted,  has  slightly  veiled  his  explanations  by  disclosing 
them  in  a  dry,  and,  to  the  general  reader,  uninteresting  manner ; 
and  many  of  the  higher  truths  he  has  designedly  half  hidden,  and 
has  drawn  a  veil  over  the  whole  by  descriptions  of  scenes  in  the 
spiritual  world,  which  to  many  are  proof  positive  of  their  falsity. 

But  we  are  thankful  that  it  is  so — thankful  that  his  sublime 
disclosures  are  now  generally  considered  as  the  marks  of  a  disor- 
dered intellect,  and  are  not  generally  preached  in  our  churches ; 
for  if  they  were,  truth  would  be  profaned.  The  present  genera- 
tion are  not,  as  a  body,  ready  to  receive  them,  and  could  not  be 
kept  in  the  behef.  Still  the  literal  sense  of  the  Scriptures  must 
be  taught — still  must  it  be  proclained  to  many  that  God  is  a 
being  of  wrath  and  vengeance. 

The  effect  of  the  Xew  Dispensation,  if  it  were  indiscriminately 
preached  in  every  Church,  would  be  to  cause  many  to  doubt  the 
Bible  being  the  work  of  inspiration ;  for  if  it  were  taught  that 
there  are  many  parts  of  the  Scriptures  which  are  not  to  be  un- 
derstood in  the  sense  of  the  letter,  the  question  would  be  with 
the  sensuous  mind.  Which  part  shall  we  believe  ?  why  not 
doubt  the  whole  ?  And  hence  is  shown  the  wisdom  of  the  Divine 
Pro^^dence,  in  causing  the  old  Church  to  teach  that  all  the  Bible 


268  THE   DIVmE   PKOVIDENCE. 

is  to  be  indiscriminately  received  as  real  truth,  and  without  refer- 
ence to  any  other  explanation.  The  manner  in  which  the  Dinne 
Pro\ddence  is  to  cause  the  New  Dispensation  to  be  received,  is 
not  only  by  establishing  the  Church  itself,  where  the  real  tmth 
is  plainly  exhibited,  but  also  by  adopting  the  course  which  was 
taken  at  the  outset  of  the  first  Christian  Dispensation,  and  dis- 
seminating isolated  parts  of  the  belief  among  the  members  of  tlie 
old  Church  as  theij  are  able  to  hear  it — teaching  here  a  little,  and 
there  a  little.  Thus,  in  regard  to  the  grand  prmciple  that  God 
governs  the  universe  by  fixed  and  immutable  laws — this  belief  is 
gradually  spreading  ;  so  also  in  respect  to  the  belief  that  man  is 
free — that  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  denotes  a  mental  or 
spiritual  coming,  and  that  the  resurrection  does  not  signify  a  res- 
m-rection  of  the  natural  body,  but  the  resurrection  or  going  into 
a  new  life  and  existence.  These  views  and  others  of  the  New 
Dispensation  are  now  being  diffused,  and  will  in  time  so  purge 
the  body  of  the  Church,  so  leaven  it,  that  they  will,  to  then-  sur- 
prise, see  that  they  have  unknowingly  adopted  the  principles  of 
that  sect  "  which  everybody  now  talks  against,"  and  that  of  all 
things  it  is  the  vainest  to  resist  its  claims. 

It  may  be  affiraied  that  if  the  Scriptures  are  composed  in  the 
peculiar  manner  in  which  we  have  represented  them  to  be,  and 
are  so  difficult  to  understand,  then  it  is  unjust  in  God  to  punish 
those  who  have  not  the  abiUty  to  comprehend  their  mysteries. 
But  in  regard  to  this  mooted  point,  the  source  of  so  much  diffi- 
culty to  many,  the  New  Dispensation  throws  in  a  ray  of  light 
which  ti-uly  may  be  said  to  be  of  a  heavenly  nature ;  for  we  are 
informed  that  there  never  was  a  greater  perversion  of  the  Scrip- 
tures than  when  it  is  taught,  as  a  real  truth,  that  he  that  be- 
lieveth  shall  be  saved,  and  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned  ; 
it  being  asserted  that  the  Holy  Oracles  are  constructed  on  such 
principles  that,  relatively  speaking,  there  is  sufficient  in  them,  and 
written  in  so  plain  a  language,*  that  a  man,  though  a  fool,  need 

"The  Woril,"  says  our  authority,  "in  the  literal  sense,  is  like  a  man 
clothed,  whose  face  and  hands  are  naked.  All  things  necessary  to  the  life  of 
man,  and  coiuequerdly  to  Ms  salvation,  are  naked  ;  but  the  rest  are  clothed, 
they  shine  through  the  clothing  as  the  face  shines  through  a  veil  of  thin 
Bilk." 


CONCERNING    THE    HEATHEN.  269 

iiot  eiT ;  and  that  God  is  far  from  requiring  that  one  should  un- 
derstand all,  or  one-half  its  arcana,  as  a  means  of  rendering  him 
worthy  of  heaven. 

It  even  proceeds  further  than  this,  for  it  teaches  that  there  are 
those  who  will  go  to  heaven  who  never  saw  a  copy  of  the  Bible, 
or  heard  of  the  Founder  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  hoirible 
doctrine  has  been  taught  that  all  the  heathen  will  take  their  place 
among  the  lost,  and  even  ministers  of  the  gospel  have  calculated 
to  a  fraction,  and  exhibited  to  their  flocks,  the  number  sinkino- 
mto  perdition  each  day  and  hour !  A  belief  like  this  is  sufficient 
to  strike  one  with  horror ;  as  a  moment's  reflection  will  evince 
that  it  represents  God  to  be  most  unjust,  if  not  a  monster  of 
cruelty  ;  for  it  leads  us  to  infer  that  he  punishes  myriads  for  not 
believing  the  Scriptures  when  they  never  heard  of  them,  or  had 
the  smallest  opportunity  of  adopting  their  teachings.  The  New 
Dispensation,  so  far  from  intimating  that  such  a  doctrine  can  by 
any  possibility  be  true,  exhibits  the  subject  in  the  most  unexcep- 
tionable manner,  and  presents  a  platform  to  which  even  a  skeptic 
could  not  object ;  for  it  informs  us  that  every  man  is  saved,  of 
whatever  nation  or  people,  who  leads  a  sincere  life,  and  who  is 
honest  and  virtuous.*  It  is  asserted  that  this,  or  his  life,  is  to  save 
him,  not  what  he  believes. 

But  it  may  be  objected  that  those  nations  who  have  not  those 
moral  truths  by  which  they  can  be  instruc^ted  and  rescued  are 
lost,  and  hence  there  is  an  injustice  done  them.  But  this  is  a 
great  fallacy;  for  it  is  doubtful  whether  there  exists  a  nation 
upon  the  earth  who  have  not  among  them  those  great  truths 
by  which  they  may  know  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong.  If 
they  had  not  they  could  not  exist,  but  would  exterminate  each 
other.  Thus  take  the  case  of  a  tribe  of  Indians ;  it  cannot  be 
supposed  that  they  in  the  daily  affairs  of  life  do  not  know  when 
truth  is  spoken.     Surely  not:  of  these  things  they  are  as  good 

*  Swedenborg  states  that  "  to  shun  evils  as  sins,  is  the  Christian  religion 
itself."— (See  D.  P.  239.)  He  informs  us  that  "among  the  heathen  there 
are  a  few  who  arc  altogether  ignorant  of  God  ;  that  these,  if  they  have  lived 
a  moral  life,  are  instructed  after  death  by  the  angels,  and  in  their  moral  life 
receive  a  spiritual  principle.  In  like  manner  they  who  worship  the  sun  and 
moon,  and  believe  that  God  is  there,  they  know  no  other,  wherefore  that  is 
not  imputed  to  them  as  sin  ;  for  the  Lord  says,  if  i/e  were  blind,  that  is,  if  ve 
did  n,t  know,  i/e  should  liave  no  «m."— John  ix.  41.     (D.  P.  254.) 


270  THE   DIVINE   PROVIDENCE. 

judges  as  the  Avhite  men,  and  if  they  did  not  thus  act  the  tribe 
could  not  be  held  a  week  together.  So  likewise  in  regard  to  a 
band  of  pirates  or  house-breakers — are  they  not  aware  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  obeying  the  first  great  moral  law,  and  of  speaking  the 
truth  ?  If  not,  how  could  they  carry  out  their  enterprise  if  they 
continually  deceived  each  other  ?  It  would  be  impossible.  Hence 
it  is  evident  that  they  are  not  ignorant  of  the  value  of  truth  ;  yet 
the  principle  that  good  faith  must  be  used  in  the  daily  affairs  of 
life,  is  the  grand  basis  upon  which  the  religion  of  God  is  founded, 
and  is  that  which  is  to  judge  all  nations  and  people ;  and  there  is 
none,  not  even  a  single  individual  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  who 
when  judged  can  assert  that  he  was  ignorant  of  that  great  prin- 
ciple, for  if  he  was,  then  he  Avould  be  an  idiot  and  irresponsible, 
and  for  all  such  persons  provision  is  made. 

Swedenborg  informs  us  that  so  far  from  the  lower  spheres 
being  filled  by  the  wicked  from  heathen  lands,  more  spirits 
of  just  men  come  from  those  quarters  than  from  the  Christian 
world.  He  asserts  that  there  is  to  be  found  among  the  heathen 
more  purity  and  real  excellence  of  character  than  among  those 
who  nominally  pass  as  Christians,  and  Avhose  disposition  or  inner 
man,  when  seen  in  its  real  colors,  is  said  to  be  filled  with  all  man- 
ner of  uncleanness  and  wickedness.  And  we  think  these  asser- 
tions can  be  shown  to  be  the  truth,  particularly  so  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  of  the  800,000,000  existing  in  the  world,  only 
200,000,000  belong  to  Christendom ;  and  Avhen  we  consider  the 
immense  number  of  heathen  children  who  depart  to  another  ex- 
istence, and  who,  Avithout  an  exception,  people  the  better  abode. 

History  and  Avell-authenticated  statements  also  confirm  the 
truth  of  Swedenborg's  views,  and  show  that  it  is  an  error  to  sup- 
pose that  the  so-called  heathen  are  altogether  in  the  dark  in  re- 
gard to  religious  subjects.*     The  teachings  of  the  Koran  indicate 

*  The  following  sacred  commands  are  required  to  be  proclaimed  through- 
out the  Chinese  Empire,  on  the  first  and  fifteenth  of  every  month,  in  a  pub- 
lic hall  set  apart  for  the  purpose  : 

1-  Piiy  ,i"st  regard  to  filial  and  fraternal  duties,  in  order  to  give  due  im- 
portance to  the  relations  of  life. 

2.  Kespect  kindred,  in  order  to  display  the  excellence  of  harmony. 

8.  Let  concord  abound  among  those  who  dwell  in  the  same  neighborhood, 
thereby  preventing  litigations. 


OONCEENING  THE  HEATHEN.  271 

the  highest  reverence  for  the  name  of  God ;  decla)-e  his  unity ; 
that  there  is  a  Hfe  after  the  death  of  the  body  ;  that  the  evil  are 
punished  and  the  good  rewarded.  It  is  also  a  great  preacher  of 
patience,  charity,  mercy,  beneficence,  gratitude,  and  the  honor  due 
to  parents  and  superiors.  The  following,  taken  from  Sale's  trans- 
lation, exhibits  the  Koran  as  a  much  better  volume  than  many 
have  supposed  it  to  be.  Thus  it  informs  the  Mahometan,  that 
"  it  is  not  righteousness  that  ye  turn  your  faces  in  prayer  towards 
the  east  and  the  Avest,  but  righteousness  is  of  him  who  believeth 
in  God,  and  the  last  day,  and  the  angels,  and  the  Scriptures,  and 
the  prophets  ;  who  giveth  money  for  God's  sake  unto  his  kindred, 
and  imto  orphans,  and  the  needy,  and  the  stranger,  and  those 
w4io  ask,  and  for  redemptions  of  captives ;  who  is  constant  in 
prayer  and  giveth  alms  ;  and  of  those  who  perform  their  covenant 
when  they  have  covenanted,  and  who  behave  themselves  patiently 
in  adversity  and  hardship,  and  in  the  time  of  violence ;  these  are 
they  who  fear  God." 

These  and  similar  doctrines*  are  taught  among  nations  Avho 

4.  Give  the  chief  place  to  husbaudry  and  the  culture  of  the  mulberrj',  that 
adequate  supplies  of  food  and  raiment  be  secured. 

6.  Esteem  economy,  that  money  be  not  lavishly  wasted. 

6.  Magnify  academical  learning,  in  order  to  direct  the  scholar's  progress. 

7.  Degrade  strange  religions,  in  order  to  exalt  the  orthodox  doctrines. 

8.  Explain  the  laws,  in  order  to  warn  the  ignorant  and  obstinate. 

9.  Illustrate  the  principles  of  a  polite  and  yielding  carriage,  in  order  to  im- 
prove manners. 

10.  Attend  to  tlie  essential  employments,  in  order  to  give  unvarying  de- 
termination to  the  will  of  tlie  people. 

11.  Instruct  the  youth,  in  order  to  restrain  them  from  evil. 

12.  Suppress  all  false  accusing,  in  order  to  secure  protection  to  the  inno- 
cent. 

13.  Warn  those  who  hide  deserters,  that  they  may  not  be  involved  in 
their  downfall. 

14.  Complete  the  payment  of  taxes,  in  order  to  prevent  frequent  urging. 

15.  Unite  the  2)a'i  and  kia,  in  order  to  extirpate  robbery  and  theft. 

16.  Settle  animosities  that  lives  may  be  duly  valued. — T/te  Chinese  Empire, 
S.  W.  Williams,  Vol.  I.,  p.  555. 

*  Mr.  Howard  Malcolm,  in  his  Travels  in  the  Barman  Empire,  says  that 
Boodhism  is  professed  by  half  of  the  population  of  China,  Lao,  Cochin  China, 
and  Ceylon ;  by  all  of  Camboja,  Siam,  Burmah  Thibet,  Tartary,  and  Lo- 
Choo ;  and  a  great  part  of  Japan,  and  most  of  the  other  Islands  of  the 
Southern  Seas  are  of  this  tliith.  In  some  parts  of  India  it  is  the  great  rival 
of  Hindooism,  but  its  principal  stronghold  is  in  the  adjoining  empire  of 
Burmah. 


272  THE   DIVINE   PROVIDENCE. 

compose  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe,  and 
they  plainly  show  that  no  injustice  is  done  the  heathen,  and  that 
they,  equally  with  Christian  nations,  have  those  instnictions  which, 
if  observed,  are  sufficient  to  insure  them  a  happy  futurity.  The 
New  Church  views  in  respect  to  the  heathea  are  also  confirmed 
by  the  Scriptures.  Thus  it  is  said  in  Romans,  that  "  the  invisible 
things  of  God  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen, 

A  few  particulars  of  this  faith  are  mentioned  as  tending  to  excite  Christian 
interest  towards  these  people  : 

1.  Boodh  is  a  general  term  for  Divinity :  he  has  been  incarnate  several 
times,  and  he  will  appear  once  more ;  the  future  Boodh  (or  Messiah)^  is 
named  Areemadayah. 

2.  Boodhism  is  the  Protestantism  of  India.  It  is  a  denial  of  Brahminism. 
Brahminism  lias  a  host  of  idols ;  Boodhism  has  only  one.  That  enjoins 
bloody  sacrifices  ;  this  forbids  all  killing.  That  requires  atrocious  self-tor- 
tures ;  this  inculcates  fewer  austerities  than  Catholics.  That  makes  lying, 
theft,  and  other  vices  sometimes  commendable,  and  describes  the  gods  as 
excelling  in  these  enormities ;  this  never  confounds  right  and  Mrong,  and 
never  excuses  sin. 

3.  Boodhism  inculcates  no  principle  of  caste.  Brahminism  probably  grew 
out  of  Boodhism,  and  gained  power  and  numbers  in  Ilindostan  till  the  close 
of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  when  the  Brahmins  were  able  to 
commence  that  persecution  of  which  their  records  speak,  and  which  drove 
out  the  teachers  of  Boodhism  into  Farther  India,  wlience  it  extended  into 
China. 

4.  The  most  extraordinary  peculiarity  of  Boodhism  is,  the  want  of  any  ex- 
isting god.  The  Boodhists  have  an  image  of  a  being  who  was  god  ,it  some 
former  time,  and  they  are  to  worship  him  till  the  appearance  of  the  next 
Boodh.    They  have  a  Bible  called  Bedagat. 

5.  The  Boodhists  hold  that  merit  consists  in  avoiding  sins  and  performing 
virtues  ;  and  they  have  a  pentalogue  consisting  of  these  live  positive  Jaws, 
viz. :  (a)  Thou  shalt  not  kill,  (h)  Thou  shall  not  steal,  (c)  Thou  shalt  not 
commit  aduiteiy.  id)  Thou  shalt  not  lie.  («)  Thou  shalt  not  drink  any 
intoxicating  liquors. 

6.  The  Boodhists  divide  their  sins  into  three  classes :  (a)  Those  of  t>lie 
body,  as  killing,  theft,  &c.  (5)  Those  of  the  tongue,  as  falsehood,  discord, 
harsh  language,  idle  talk,  &c.  (c)  Those  of  the  mind,  as  pride,  covetous- 
ness,  envy,  adoring  false  gods. 

7.  The  Boodhists  believe  in  the  metempsychosis,  but  that  it  will  terminate 
in  nicban  or  annihilation. 

8.  There  is  scarcely  a  prohibition  of  the  Bediigat  which  is  not  sanctioned 
by  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

9.  Worship  is  not  performed  collectively,  though  crowds  assemble  at  the 
same  time  on  set  days.  Each  one  makes  his  oftcring  and  recites  his  prayers 
alone. 

10.  Any  one  may  become  a  Boodhist  priest,  and  any  priest  may  return  to 
a  secular  life  at  pleasure.— 6ee  New  Church  Repository,  Vol.  III.,  p.  166. 


OF   THE    MAHOMETAN    RELIGION.  273 

being  understood  by  the  things  that  are  made,  even  his  eternal 
power  and  Godhead,  so  that  they  (the  Gentiles)  are  without 
excuse."  Again,  "  But  glory  and  honor  and  power  to  every  man 
that  worketh  good,  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Gentile,  for 
there  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God."  The  same  is  also 
found  in  Luke  xiii.  23  :  "I  say  imto  you,  that  they  shall  come 
from  the  east  and  the  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

Swedenborg  shows  why  the  religion  of  Mahomet  was  permitted. 
It  was,  he  tells  us,  raised  up  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the 
gross  idolatries  which  existed  :  that  "  before  the  Mahometan  reli- 
gion appeared,  the  worship  of  idols  was  common  in  the  whole 
habitable  world,  and  that  those  idolatries  might  be  extirpated,  it 
was  brought  about  of  the  Divine  Providence  of  the  Lord,  that  a  new 
religion,  accommodated  to  the  genius  of  the  Orientals,  should  be 
introduced  ;  in  which  there  should  be  something  from  both  Testa- 
ments of  the  Word,  and  which  should  teach  that  the  Lord  came 
into  the  Avorld,  and  that  he  was  the  greatest  prophet,  the  wisest 
of  all,  and  the  Son  of  God."  This  explanation,  or  the  doctrine 
that  it  was  better  that  a  system  of  religion  mixed  with  errors 
should  be  received  rather  than  none,  it  must  be  admitted  is  a 
rational  elucidation  of  the  subject ;  and  it  is  now  adopted  by 
several  eminent  writers  who  have  inquired  into  the  motive  which 
might  be  supposed  would  induce  an  all-wise  Being  to  permit  the 
Mahometan  religion  to  prevail. '- 

It  has  been  a  matter  of  surprise  to  many  that  the  Divine 
Providence  ever  permitted  such  men  as  Attila,  the  leadei-  of  the 

*  Mr.  Turner,  in  his  "  Sacred  History  of  the  World,"  makes  the  follow- 
ing observations  eoncernin^if  the  Mahometan  reliirion.  "  Mohammed  was  an 
instrument  to  rescue  the  Ishmael  race  from  the  most  superstitious  polythe- 
ism and  idolatry.  When  he  was  a  young  man,  his  family  and  countrymen 
were  worshipping  idols  so  enthusiastically,  that  they  had  one  for  every  day 
in  the  year.  His  tribe,  the  Koreish,  the  direct  and  acknowledged  descend- 
ants from  Ishmael,  were  devoted  to  these,  and  the  patrons  of  the  system,  by 
being  the  masters  and  guardians  of  the  Caaba  and  Mecca.  Now  Mohammed 
e.xtinguished  forever  idolatry  and  polytheism  in  all  the  race  of  Ishmael,  and 
throughout  Arabia.  Though  he  did  not  teach  Christianity,  he  clearly 
brought  back  this  branch  of  Abraham's  family  to  that  state  of  theism  and 
purer  religion  in  which  Ishmael  himself  had  been  brought  up.  In  all  but 
the  addition  of  himself  missioned  as  a  prophet,  he  has  made  them  much  of 

18 


274  THE   DWIXE    PROVIDENCE. 

Huns,  to  arise  and  devastate  with  fire  and  sword  the  fairest  parts 
of  Europe,  or  that  Napoleon  w^as  allowed  to  cause  the  death  of 
millions,  and  convulse  and  disturb  the  peace  of  the  world.  These 
thino-s,  and  others  of  like  nature,  have  appeared  as  inscrutable 
mysteries,  and  to  be  explained  only  in  another  state  of  existence  ; 
•  yet  the  New  Church  writings  give  an  elucidation,  for  they  inform  us 
that  the  reason  Bonaparte  was  permitted  to  proceed  in  his  career 
was,  that  he  might  become  a  scourge  to  Europe,  and  so  chastise 
an  evil  and  corrupt  generation,  that  they  would  be  mduced  to  cease 
from  their  enormities,  and  become  a  better  people.  And  if  his- 
tory is  examined  it  will  be  found  to  correspond  with  this  explana- 
tion, for  it  can  be  seen  that  there  never  was  a  time  when  the  na- 
tions of  Europe  were  more  corrupt  than  previous  to  the  French 
Revolution.  A  general  apathy  existed,  stagnant  and  foul  vapors 
were  fast  arising  which  threatened  to  connipt  and  destroy  the 
race.  Mr.  Alison,  in  his  History  of  Europe,  says,  that  "  at  no 
former  period  of  its  annals,  or  the  time  preceding  the  French 
Revolution,  had  the  reign  of  selfishness  shown  itself  so  predomi- 
nantly upon  the  continent.  The  courts,  and  the  majority  of  the 
people,  were  steeped  in  corruption  and  licentiousness  :  religion  and 
patriotism  Avere  but  a  name,  and  a  dissolution  of  all  principle  ap- 
peared about  to  take  place." 

Now  if  this  was  the  case  not  only  on  the  continent,  but  in 
Great  Britain,  what  could  have  aroused  and  rescued  Europe  from 
her  degraded  condition  ?  It  could  not  have  been  by  adopting 
lenient  measures,  by  a  Saviour  appearing,  and  by  affectionate 
entreaty  endeavoring  to  cause  them  to  cease  from  their  evils. 


what  Ishmael  was,  and  revived  raauj-  of  the  ancient  truths  as  to  the  Deity, 
which  Abraham  had  taught  his  son.  Wherever  Mohammedanism  has 
spread,  it  has  always  acted  to  the  same  end.  It  has  always  been  the  uncom- 
promising antagonist  of  polytheism  and  idolatry,  and  has  invariably  driven 
these  out  of  the  world  wherever  it  has  predominated  !  This  seems  to  have 
been  its  greatest  office.  Where  Christianity  would  not  have  been  received, 
or  would  not  have  lasted,  Mohammedanism  has  been  allowed  to  prevail  in- 
stead, because  its  unitheism,  its  spirit  of  devotion,  and  the  chief  moral  prin- 
ciples which  the  Koran  enjoins,  are  everywhere  superior  to  the  paganism 
which  it  has  overthrown.  It  has  also  precluded  or  suppressed  the  most 
bestializing  of  the  human  vices,  that  of  drunkenness ;  and  it  has  done  this 
by  Mohammed  making  it  a  principle  of  his  religious  system  that  no  intoxi- 
cating liquor  should  be  used  by  its  professors.  It  has  its  vices,  but  it  per- 
forms these  utilities." — Vol.  II.,  p.  407. 


NAPOLEON   A   SCOURGE.  276 

They  were  too  deeply  immersed  in  sin  and  selfishness  to  render 
this  effectual,  and,  as  in  times  of  old,  would  have  turned  to  him 
a  deaf  ear.  Hence  to  save  them,  to  save  their  descendants  from 
total  ruin,  from  advancing  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  depths  of 
evil  and  pollution,  it  was  essential  that  the  Divine  Providence 
should  permit  to  come  upon  them  a  scoin-ge,  and  so  chastise,  so 
break  their  arrogance  and  pride,  that  humility  of  character  should 
exhibit  itself,  and  they  should  cease  from  their  infidelity  and  be- 
lieve there  Avas  a  Being  upon  whom  alone  dependence  was  to 
be  placed.  And  this  did  take  place  ;  for  when  the  mighty  Corsi- 
can,  as  the  scourge  of  God,  came  like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the 
nations  of  Europe,  and  threatened  to  overrun  and  subject  eveiy 
thing  to  his  will,  then  was  the  aid  of  the  Deity  invoked,  and  a 
spirit  of  enterprise,  self-denial,  and  virtue  aroused,  which  had  so 
long  slumbered.  This  was  particularly  shown  to  be  the  case  in 
Austria  and  Pnissia  ;  for  after  the  battles  of  Austerlitz  and  Jena, 
and  when  all  was  supposed  lost,  and  the  inhabitants  began  to  ex- 
perience the  extortions  of  the  conquerors,  they  arose  almost  to  a 
man,  and,  filled  with  a  spirit  of  indignation,  exerted  every  power 
to  free  themselves  from  their  insufferable  bondage.  The  historian 
Alison*  corroborates  this  view,  for  he  observes,  that  "it  is  not 

*  "If  this  world  were  the  final  resting-place  of  man  ;  if  it  were  intended 
to  be  tlie  seat  of  unbroken  happiness,  and  the  human  mind  was  so  innocent, 
and  so  deserving,  as  to  be  capable  of  enjoying  unmixed  felicity,  such  a 
marked  and  irretrievable  tendency  in  human  affairs  might  well  be  a  subject 
of  unmingled  I'egret.  But  if  the  real  condition  of  mankind  be  reflected  on, 
and  the  necessity  of  suffering  to  the  purification  of  the  human  heart  taken 
into  consideration,  the  observer  wiU  take  a  very  different  view  of  the  matter. 
That  war  is  an  unbounded  source  of  human  suffering  to  those  engaged  in  or 
affected  by  it,  can  be  doubted  by  none ;  and  if  any  were  disposed  to  be  skep- 
tical on  the  subject,  his  hesitation  would  probably  be  removed  by  a  consider- 
ation of  the  wars  that  followed  the  French  Eevolution.  But  is  not  suffering 
necessary  to  the  purification  of  the  human  heart  ?  Is  it  not  in  that  ordeal 
that  its  selfishness,  its  corruptions,  and  its  stains  are  washed  out  ?  Have 
we  not  been  told  by  the  highest  authority  that  man  is  made  perfect  by  suf- 
fering ?  Is  not  misfortune,  anxiety,  and  distress  the  severe  but  salutary 
school  of  individual  improvement  ?  And  what  is  war  but  anxiety,  distress, 
and  6ften  agony  to  nations  ?  Its  great  and  lasting  effect  is,  to  counteract  the 
concentration  of  human  interests  upon  self,  to  awaken  the  patriotic  and  gen- 
erous afiections,  to  rouse  that  generous  ardor  v/hich,  spreading  from  breast 
to  bi'east,  obliterates  for  a  time  the  selfishness  of  jirivate  interest,  and  leads 
to  the  general  admission  of  great  and  heroic  feelings. 

"Peace  exhibits  the  enchanting  prospect  of  rich  fields,  flourishing  cities, 


276  THE    DIYINE    PROVIDENCE. 

in  the  suffering,  but  the  (apparent)  prosperity,  of  nations  that  the 
seeds  of  )-uin  are  in  general  to  be  found  ;  the  anguish  and  liumili- 
ation  which  are  the  consequences  of  weakness,  disunion,  and  cor- 
ruption, are  often  the  severe  school  of  ultimate  improvement.  In 
the  misery  and  degradation  consequent  on  the  battle  of  Jena,  is 
to  be  found  the  commencement  of  the  causes  destined  to  produce 
the  glorious  resurrection  of  1813." 

The  course  of  the  Divine  Providence  in  regard  to  this  subject 
is  also  exhibited  by  the  circumstances  attendant  and  growing  out 
of  the  last  war  with  Mexico  ;  and  in  reality  it  can  be  seen  that  this 
rupture  will  in  the  end  be  one  of  the  best  things  which  ever  hap- 
pened to  that  country,  as  it  has  reduced  their  pride,  and  exhibited 
to  the  Mexicans  that  tliere  are  others  fully  equal  to  themselves  or 
their  Spanish  ancestry,  both  in  regard  to  prowess  and  a  knowledge 
of  the  arts  and  sciences ;  and  thus,  by  evincing  the  superiority  of 
our  laws  and  institutions,  even  to  the  most  unlearned,  has  kindled 
a  spark  which,  we  trust,  will  not  be  arrested  until  it  has  freed  that 
beautiful  but  benighted  countiy  from  its  evils,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  it  to  take  its  place  among  free  and  enlightened  nations. 

But  it  may  be  urged  in  respect  to  this  method  of  the  Divine 
Providence,  that  it  is  a  severe  government  which  i-equires  so 
much  suffering  to  vindicate  its  laws.  Yet  such  objections  are 
obviated,   when  it   is    considered   that  the   Supreme    Ruler,   in 

spacious  harbors,  growing  wealth,  and  undisturbed  tranquillity ;  but  beneath 
that  smiling  surface  are  to  be  found  the  i-ankest  and  most»dangerous  pas- 
sions of  the  human  breast.  There  it  is  that  pleasure  spreads  its  lures,  and 
interest  its  attractions,  and  cupidity  its  selfishness.  There  are  to  be  found  the 
hard-hearted  master  and  the  reckless  servant,  the  princely  landlord  and  the 
destitute  tenant,  the  profligate  husband  and  the  faithless  wife,  '  et  corrum- 
pere  et  corrumpi  seciihim  vacatur.''  Amid  war  are  to  be  seen  the  ravaged  field 
and  sacked  city,  the  slaughtered  multitude  and  famished  group,  the  tear  of 
the  widow  and  the  groans  of  the  fatherless  ;  amid  all  that  scene  of  unutter- 
able woe,  the  generous  and  noble  aifections  often  acquire  e.\traordinary 
force;  selfishness  gives  place  to  patriotism,  cupidity  to  disinterestedness, 
luxury  to  self-denial,  and  heroic  virtue  arises  out  of  suffering.  Even  the 
poignancy  of  individual  distress  is  alleviated  by  the  numbers  who  simul- 
taneously share  it.  Misery  ceases  to  be  overwhelming  when  it  is  no  longer 
solitary ;  individual  loss  is  drowned  in  the  feeling  of  common  sympathy. 
Peace  may  give  men  a  larger  share  of  the  enjoyments  and  comforts  of  this 
world,  but  war  often  renders  them  fitter  for  a  future  state  of  existence  ;  and 
it  is  by  the  alternation  of  both  that  they  are  best  fitted  for  the  duties  of  the 
one  and  the  destiny  of  the  other."— //isi.  of  Europe,  A.  Alison.  Vol.  IV., 
p.  .566. 


ANOMALIES    IN    PROVIDENCE,  277 

governing  the  world,  looks  more  to  its  interests  and  preservation 
as  a  whole  than  otherwise.  Thus,  take  a  State  where  there  are 
but  a  few  truly  virtuous  and  religioixs  persons :  it  could  not  be 
supposed  that  in  this  case  the  great  Lawgiver  would  cease  from 
adopting  means  to  rescue  it,  even  if  the  righteous  did  temporally 
suffer.*  This  would  not  be  the  plan  of  the  Divine  Providence, 
as,  if  it  was,  the  State  (by  the  natural  course  of  things)  would  in 
time  be  lost,  the  few  just  persons  not  being  able  to  counterbal- 
ance and  resist  the  evii.f 

It  is  probable  there  has  been  nothing  in  the  arrangement  of 
the  Divine  Providence  which,  has  caused  more  wonderment,  than 
to  see  bad  men  prospering  and  good  men  suffering  :  to  observe 
one  rich  and  another  poor;  the  one  having  every  thing  which 
could  be  wished  for,  and  enjoying  long  life,  and  the  other,  it  may 
be,  cut  off  in  the  prime  of  his  years  and  usefulness,  and  leaving  a 
large  family  destitute.  So  strange  and  unaccountable  has  this 
and  other  things  of  like  nature  appeared,  that  many  have  doubted 
whether  there  was  any  overruling  Providence,  and  whether  all 
things  were  not  governed  by  chance.  But  the  New  Dispensation 
affords  an  explanation  of  this  mystery,  for  it  teaches  that  the 
reason  why  a  bad  man  is  permitted  to  enjoy  this  world's  goods, 
and  a  good  man  to  suffer,  is  because  of  the  mercy  which  God  has 
for  both. 

*  They  but  temporally  suffer,  as  in  another  life  they  partake  of  the  hap- 
piness of  the  blessed,  and,  as  is  said,  our  loss  is  their  gain. 

+  When  an  eminent  poet  wrote  the  following,  he  uttered  a  great  truth  : 

"  All  nature  is  but  art  unknown  to  thee, 
AU  chance  direction  which  tiiou  canst  not  see, 
All  discord  harmony  not  understood, 
AU  partial  evil  universal  good  : 
In  spite  of  pride,  in  erring  reason's  spite. 
One  truth  is  clear — whatever  is,  is  right." 

By  the  assertion  that  "whatever  is,  is  right,"  is  signified,  as  we  under- 
stand it,  that  the  Divine  Providence  does,  in  all  the  varied  affairs  of  life,  the 
very  best  that  can  be  done  ;  and  if  he  has  done  this  (as  cannot  but  be  ad- 
mitted), then  is  the  axiom  that  "  whatever  is,  is  7'ight,'''  rendered  irrefuta- 
ble; and  cannot  be  denied,  except  by  asserting  that  whatever  is,  is  not 
right,  and  hence  that  the  mechanism  of  the  heavens,  and  the  arrangement 
of  the  Divine  Architect,  could  be  improved  upon ;  and  such,  indeed,  are 
the  false  views  that  have  been  taken  in  respect  to  this  truth,  and  of  God's 
government. 


278  THE   DIVINE   PROVIDENCE. 

Thus,  it  informs  us  that  God  is  a  being  of  the  greatest  benevo- 
lence, and  "is  kind  unto  the  unthankful  and  to  the  evil,"*  as  well 
as  to  those  who  obey  and  love  him,  and  ever  strives  to  assist  all. 
Now  when,  with  an  eye  of  omniscience,  it  is  seen  from  the  begin- 
ning that  one  man  is  of  such  an  evil  nature  that  he  will  go  to  the 
regions  of  the  lost,  no  matter  what  influences  are  brought  to 
bear  upon  him,  then  it  is  the  desire  of  the  Divine  Proxidence  that 
he  shovdd  in  another  state  suffer  as  little  unhappiness,  or  go  to 
the  mildest  place  of  punishment  possible  ;  and  if  it  is  found  that 
riches  in  this  world  will  cause  him  so  to  act,  and  that  he  will  thus 
proceed,  they  are  given.  And  the  same  providence  and  foresight 
is  exercised  towards  the  good  man,  for  when  at  the  age  of  infancy 
it  is  foreseen  that  he  possesses  sufficient  of  the  rudiments  of  those 
qualities  which  are  requisite  to  form  an  angel,  then  every  means 
are  adopted  consistent  with  bis  free  will  to  bring  them  out ;  and 
if  it  is  found  that  nothing  but  poverty  or  other  grievances  will 
effect  it,  then  they  are  given.f 

*  Luke  vi.  ;3.3. 

t  We  would  not  be  understood,  from  what  has  been  said,  to  affirm  that  no 
rich  man  enters  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  This  is  not  the  case.  According 
to  our  distinguished  authority,  all,  whetlier  rich  or  poor,  enter  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  who  (while  living  on  earth)  have  obeyed  its  laws.  Swedcnborg 
says : 

'^The  poor  do  not  come  into  heaven  on  account  of  their  poverty,  but  on 
account  of  their  life  ;  the  life  of  every  one  follows  him,  whether  he  be  rich 
or  poor  ;  there  is  not  peculiar  mercy  for  one  moi-e  than  for  the  other:  he  is 
received  who  has  lived  well,  and  he  is  rejected  who  has  lived  ill. 

"  Who  arc  meant  by  the  rich  man,  of  whom  the  Lord  says,  'It  is  easier 
for  a  camel  to  pass  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter 
the  kingdom  of  God"  (Matt.  xix.  24),  shall  also  be  told.  By  the  rich  man 
there  are  meant  the  rich  in  both  senses,  as  well  natural  as  spiritual ;  the  rich 
in  the  natural  sense  arc  those  who  abound  in  riches,  and  set  their  heart  upon 
them ;  but  in  the  spiritual  sense,  those  who  abound  in  knowledges  and 
Kcienees  (for  those  arc  spiritual  riches),  and  by  them  wish  to  introduce  them- 
Belves,  from  their  own  inteUigence,  into  the  things  which  are  of  heaven  and 
the  Church  ;  and  because  this  is  contrary  to  divine  order,  it  is  said  that  it  is 
easier  for  a  camel  to  pass  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  :  for  in  that  sense,  by 
a  camel  is  signified  the  principle  of  knowledge  and  of  science  in  general,  and 
by  the  eye  of  a  needle  spiritual  truth.  That  by  a  camel  and  the  eye  of  a 
needle  those  things  arc  meant,  is  not  known  at  this  day,  because  hitherto 
the  science  has  not  been  opened  which  teaches  what  is  signified,  in  the 
spiritual  sense,  by  those  things  which  are  said  in  the  literal  sense  of  the 
Word.  For  in  each  of  the  things  in  the  Word  there  is  a  spiritual  sense,  and 
also  a  natural  sense;  for  the  Word,  that  there  might  be  a  coujuuctiou  of 
heaven  with  the  world,  or  of  angels  with  men.  after  immediate  conjunction 


WEALTH    OFTEN    A    CURSE.  279 

This  explanation  of  the  Divine  Providence  must  be  admitted 
to  be  rational,  and  indeed  we  think  that  it  is  the  only  possible 
manner  in  which,  considering  God  as  a  beneficent  being,  the 
great  enigma  can  be  solved.  And  as  far  as  our  experience  has 
gone,  it  has  been  found  to  be  the  truth  ;  for  how  many  can  be 
found  who,  if  not  permitted  to  have  their  way,  would  not  only 
curse  and  blaspheme,  but  plunge  themselves  into  the  lowest 
depths  of  misery  !  Take,  for  instance,  a  man  of  vigorous  consti- 
tution and  a  powerful  intellect,  who  yet  cares  little  or  nothing 
concerning  religion,  and  whose  great  desire  is  to  be  wealthy  and 
enjoy  this  world's  goods.  Now  such  a  man  has  set  his  very 
heart  upon  being  rich  and  great.  It  has  been  for  this  that  he 
has  toiled  and  striven,  and  if  he  should  not  be  permitted  to  ob- 
tain the  grand  object  which  he  so  much  desires,  would  he  not 
follow  the  advice  which  was  given  to  Job  ?  Indeed,  we  know 
this  to  be  the  case,  having  seen  and  read  of  those  who,  upon  not 
being  able  to  accomplish  what  they  have  desired,  have  cuised 
their  existence,  and  repeated  words  which  cannot  be  mentioned. 
And  if  this  is  the  case  in  regard  to  those  of  a  strongly  marked 
character,  it  can  well  be  supposed  there  are  others  of  less  intelli- 
gence who  act  in  like  manner,  though  their  course  is  not  so  ob- 
vious or  their  transgression  so  great. 

Take,  on  the  other  hand,  the  case  of  the  indigent  Christian-; 
he,  in  his  ignorance,  believes  that  it  is  a  mysterious  dispensation 
that  he  is  not  more  favored  with  this  world's  goods.  But  how 
tnie  it  is  that,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  this  very  prosperity  that 
he  so  anxiously  desires  would  ruin  his  prospects  for  another  ex- 
istence !  It  would  act  thus,  because  man's  nature  is  so  fallen, 
that  as  a  general  rule,  when  riches  are  bestowed  they  increase 
his  pride  and  arrogance,  and  cause  him  to  proceed  on  the  fatal 
career.  But  it  is  not  so  with  a  state  in  which  there  is  neither 
poverty  nor  riches  ;  for  this  humbles  instead  of  exalting,  and  pre- 
pares its  followers  for  a  happier  life. 

It  might  be  urged,  that  there  are  many  excellent  persons  who 
would  do  much  good  if  they  had  it  in  their  power.  Yes ;  it  is 
very  time  that  such  persons  would  give  to  others,  but  Avhether 

ceased,  was  written  by  pure  coiTcspondences  of  natural  things  with  spiritual. 
Hence  it  is  evident  what  are  specifically  is  meant  there  bv  the  rich  man," — 
H.  H.,  .365. 


280  THE   DIVINE   PROVIDENCE. 

they  would  do  good  in  the  end,  is  another  consideration.  As  far 
as  our  experience  has  enabled  us  to  judge,  as  a  general  thing, 
they  would  bestow  their  money  upon  the  indolent,  and  those 
whom  it  is  far  better  should  exert  themselves.  And  we  are  the 
more  inclined  to  believe  they  would  injure  rather  than  assist  the 
plan  of  the  Divine  Providence,  from  the  reason  that  if  more  mon- 
ey would  be  of  any  real  use  in  accelerating  God's  purposes  and 
building  up  the  Church,  it  would  be  found.  God  is  not  so  cir- 
cumscribed but  that  he  might,  if  the  case  required  it,  fill  our 
churches  with  gold  and  give  to  all  benevolent  societies. 

It  may  be  urged,  that  the  reason  one  man  is  endowed  with 
this  Avorld's  goods,  and  why  another  is  Avithout  them,  is  because 
the  one  has  either  inherited  his  property,  or  obeyed  the  laws  by 
which  riches  are  acquired.  This  is  very  true  ;  yet  at  the  same 
time,  there  is  an  oven-uling  Providence,  and  riches  or  poverty 
have  relation  to  man's  spiritual  nature  ;  and  the  same  law  holds 
good  in  regard  to  any  individual  being  suddenly  removed  from 
this  world. 

Thus,  let  us  suppose  that  a  man  loses  his  life  in  crossing  a 
bridge,  which  gave  way  at  that  particular  occasion.  In  this  case 
the  natural  cause  is  evident.  But  we  are  informed  there  is  an- 
other reason;  which  is,  that  that  man's  mind  was  in  such  a 
state  that  it  was  not  good  for  him  to  remain  longer  in  this  world. 
Possibly  at  the  very  time  the  accident  occurred,  it  was  verging 
into  infidelity :  hence,  rather  than  allow  this  great  evil,  God  in 
mercy  permitted  and  ordered  events  so  that  this  apparent  ca- 
lamity should  occur  at  this  particular  period.  In  this  case  the 
Divine  Providence  did  not  aviU  the  bridtre  to  fall,  but  foreseeinor 
that  it  would,  advantage  was  taken  of  the  opportunity  to  make 
good  proceed  from  evil. 

This  view  of  the  subject,  and  that  God  so  orders  events  that 
they  all  advance  his  purpose,  is  taken  by  Morell.  Thus  he  says, 
speaking  of  the  different  modes  of  the  Divine  operation :  "  That 
God  operates  in  those  modes,  does  not  imply  that  he  operates 
in  no  other ;  nor  does  the  fact  that  an  event  takes  place  by  some 
secondary  agency  exclude  it  from  a  specific  participation  in  the 
Divine  plan  ri.*  a  whole. 

"  Let  us  assume  a  case  for  example.  Suppose  a  man  by  some 
act  of  imprudence  to  contract  a  disease,  and  hasten  on  his  death. 


OBJECTION   OBVIATED.  281 

One  says,  in  contemplating  the  scene,  it  is  a  dispensation  of 
Providence.  Not  at  all,  says  another,  it  is  the  natural  effect  of 
the  laws  which  he  foolishly  violated.  We  rejoin,  however,  that 
it  is  both.  The  man  broke  the  law  and  paid  the  penalty  ;  but 
every  thought,  every  purpose,  every  action,  every  circumstance 
which  influenced  that  man's  life,  and  led  him  at  length  into  the 
fatal  resolution  under  which  he  fell,  has  depended  upon  a  suc- 
cession of  agencies  reaching  back  even  to  his  infancy ;  and  these 
agencies,  be  it  remembered,  all  belong  to  the  region  of  God's 
moral  government.  We  do  not  say  that  they  are  fixed  by  a 
stern  necessity,  since  that  would  destroy  the  notion  of  human  lib- 
erty ;  but  they  are  all  under  the  moral  control  of  the  Deity,  from 
first  to  last,  so  that  the  penalty  w^hich  seems  at  first  to  be  simply 
the  result  of  breaking  a  natural  law,  is  really  an  effect  of  that 
providential  power  which  governs  the  world.  Human  things 
may  appear  to  the  unthinking  to  be  absolutely  controlled  by  the 
fixed  law^s  of  our  being ;  but  if  we  look  beneath  the  surface,  we 
see  the  hand  of  God  moving  all  the  springs,  and  making  eveiy 
event,  even  those  arising  from  our  free  agency  itself,  contribute 
to  the  development  of  his  purposes. 

"How  marvellous  an  exemplification  does  history  give  us  of " 
the  manner  in  which  human  agency  is  blended  with  Divine 
Providence !  The  sum  and  substance  of  the  world's  histoiy  is 
but  the  aggregate  of  the  voluntary  actions  of  mankind  upon  the 
stage  of  human  life.  Whilst,  however,  this  is  the  case,  yet  God 
himself  has  composed  the  drama ;  it  is  he  that  framed  the  law  of 
human  progress ;  he  that  brings  about  its  accomplishment  by 
actions,  which  to  us,  indeed,  are  voluntary,  but  which,  notwith- 
standing, form  a  part  of  his  own  great  plan  from  all  eternity. 
To  the  man  who  looks  unbelievingly  vipon  the  Divine  Providence, 
the  world's  history  is  a  problem  that  can  never  be  solved."* 

An  objection  has  been  urged  against  an  overruling  Providence, 
because  of  the  immensity  of  creation.  But  the  New  Dispensation 
obviates  the  difficult}^  by  informing  us  that  notwithstanding  the 
myriads  of  worlds  and  systems,  God's  paternal  eye  is  cast  upon 
every  man,  and  his  interests  watched  over  in  the  same  manner  as 
if  there  was  no  other  being  in  existence  ;  and  we  can  well  believe 

*  An  Historical  and  Critical  View  of  the  Speculative  Philosophy  of  Eu- 
rope, Vol.  II.,  p.  571. 


282  THE   DH'INE    PKOVIDENCE. 

it  is  SO,  when  the  attributes  of  the  great  Creator  are  considered. 
One  cause  Avhy  false  views  have  been  adopted  on  this  head,  is 
from  the  fact  that  it  has  been  taught  that  man  is  an  insignificant 
being  and  unworthy  of  God's  notice.  But  the  falsity  of  such  as- 
sertions is  self-evident,  and  a  slight  examination  is  sufficient  to 
evince  that  man  Avas  created  only  a  little  lower  than  the  angels — 
is  a  world  himself,  and  that  his  existence  is  as  essential  to  the 
Divinity  as  that  of  the  universe.  That  God's  providence  is  exer- 
cised towards  the  most  minute  objects  of  nature,  is  frequently 
taught  in  the  Scriptures ;  and  if  he  has  a  care  for  the  lily  of  the 
field,  it  is  rational  to  suppose  that  he  has  for  those  who  are  of 
much  more  A'alue,  and  formed  after  his  likeness  and  imagfe. 
Swedenborg  informs  us,  that  those  texts  which  state  that  "as  a 
man  chasteneth  his  son,  so  God  chasteneth  his  children,"  are  real 
truths,  and  that  all  dispensations,  however  at  present  inscrutable, 
are  allotted  by  the  great  Physician  as  medicine,  and  that  by 
which  alone  man  can  be  restored.  And  so  far  is  the  belief  car- 
ried, that  it  teaches  that  eveiy  one  is  placed  exactly  in  that  situ- 
ation which  is  best  suited  for  his  peculiar  disposition,  for  develop- 
ing his  character,  and  preparing  him  for  another  existence.  It 
asserts  that  not  a  single  pang  is  endured  beyond  what  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  and  unavoidable. 

The  particular  manner  in  which  the  Divine  Providence  acts  in 
the  most  minute  things,  is  well  exhibited  in  the  life  of  Washing- 
ton. His  biographer  thus  relates  the  circumstance :  "With  re- 
spect to  Washington,  I  cannot  but  mention  here  two  veiy  extra- 
ordinary speeches  that  were  made  about  him  after  Braddock's 
defeat,  and  which,  as  they  have  turned  out,  look  a  good  deal 
like  prophecies.  A  famous  'Indian  warrior.  Avho  acted  a  leading 
part  in  that  bloody  tragedy,  was  often  heard  to  swear  that  Wash- 
ington was  never  born  to  be  killed  by  a  bullet ;  for,  continued  he, 
I  had  seventeen  fair  fires  at  him  with  my  rifle,  and  after  all  could 
not  bring  him  to  the  ground."  The  Rev.  Mr.  Davis,  in  a  sermon 
occasioned  by  Braddock's  defeat,  has  these  remarkable  words — 
"  I  beg  leave  to  point  the  attention  of  the  public  to  that  heroic 
youth.  Colonel  Washington,  whom  I  cannot  but  hope  Pro\4dence 
has  presented  for  some  great  service  to  this  country." 

We  are  aware  there  are  those  who  would  argue  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  chance  that  Washington  escaped  the  bullets  of  the 


ILLUSTRATION    FKOM    HISTORY'.  283 

<)neray ;  but  that  this  could  not  have  been  is  evinced  from  tlie 
fact,  that  not  only  had  several  horses  been  shot  under  him,  and 
his  regimentals  pierced  in  many  places,  but  also  from  the  fact, 
tliat  lie  was  almost  the  only  officer 'who  was  left,  and  the  one 
who,  from  his  great  exertions,  was  particularly  selected  to  be 
brought  down.  His  escape  could  not  have  been  of  a  fortuitous 
nature,  unless  it  be  held  that  God  has  no  superintending  provi- 
dence ;  for  if  it  be  admitted  that  he  governs  in  generals,  it  must 
be  granted  he  does  in  particulars,  the  one  forming  the  other, 
and  without  which  neither  could  exist. 

The  jS^ew  Church  doctrine,  that  even  the  very  hairs  of  our 
heads  are  numbered,  and  not  even  a  sparrow,  much  less  a  man, 
falls  to  the  o-round  without  the  arrangement  and  design  of  the 
Divine  Providence,  is  thus  exhibited  by  Alison  in  his  History 
of  Europe  :  "  Great  changes  in  human  affairs  never  take  place 
fiom  trivial  causes.  The  most  important  effects,  indeed,  are  often 
apparently  owing  to  inconsiderable  springs ;  but  the  train  has 
been  laid  in  all  such  cases  by  a  long  course  of  previous  events, 
and  the  last  only  puts  the  torch  to  its  extremity.  A  fit  of  pas- 
sion in  Mrs.  Masham  arrested  the  course  of  Marlborough's  victo- 
ries, and  preserved  the  tottering  kingdom  of  France  ;  a  charge  of 
a  few  squadrons  of  horse,  under  Kellerman  at  Marengo,  fixed 
Napoleon  on  the  consular  throne ;  and  another,  with  no  greater 
force,  against  the  flank  of  the  old  guard  at  Waterloo,  chained 
him  to  the  rock  of  St.  Helena.  Superficial  observers  lament  the 
subjection  of  human  affairs  to  the  caprice  of  fortune  or  the 
casualties  of  chance ;  but  a  more  enlarged  observation  teaches 
us  to  recognize  in  these  apparently  trivial  events  the  opera- 
tions of  general  laws,  and  the  last  link  in  a  chain  of  causes 
which  have  all  conspired  to  pjroduce  the  general  result.  Mrs, 
Masham's  passion  was  the  ultimate  cause  of  Marlborough's  over- 
throw ;  but  that  event  had  been  prepared  by  the  accumulating 
jealousy  of  the  nation  during  the  w^hole  tide  of  her  \'ictories,  and 
her  indignation  Avas  but  the  drop  which  made  the  cup  overflow ; 
Kellerman's  charge,  indeed,  fixed  Napoleon  on  the  throne,  but  it 
was  the  sufferings  of  the  Revolution,  the  glories  of  the  Italian 
campaigns,  the  triumphs  of  the  Pyramids,  which  induced  the 
nation  to  hail  his  usurpation  with  joy;  the  charge  of  the  10th 
and  18th  Huzzars  broke  the  last  column  of  the  imperial  array; 


284  THE   DIVINE   PROVIDENCE. 

but  the  foundation  of  the  triumph  of  Wellington  had  been  laid 
by  the  long  series  of  his  Peninsular  victories,  and  the  bloody  ca- 
tastrophe of  the  Moscow  campaign." — Vol.  IV.,  p.  31. 

God's  providence  is  in  a  most  pecuhar  manner  indicated  in  the 
life  of  an  author  or  artist ;  for  it  is  probable  that  there  are  no 
class  of  men  whose  desires  are  less  satisfied,  and  who  oftener  lan- 
guish in  poverty.  An  eminent  writer  informs  us,  that  "  next  to 
the  Newgate  Calendar,  the  Biography  of  authors  is  the  most 
sickening  chapter  in  the  history  of  man."  This  arises  from  the 
fact  that  they  possess,  above  others,  qualities  which  if  allowed  to 
predominate  would  cause  their  ultimate  ruin.  Thus  a  learned 
man  has,  as  a  general  thing,  though  he  may  be  ignorant  of  it, 
more  vanity,  more  pride  and  arrogance  than  others.  Now  per- 
mit such  a  one  to  become  Avealthy,  and,  to  use  a  common  saying, 
there  would  be  no  living  with  him ;  for  his  superior  attainments 
would  cause  him  to  look  down  with  contempt  upon  those  who 
were  his  inferiors,  and  Avhich,  joined  with  a  superciliousness  of 
manner,  would  render  him  unendurable  except  by  those  who 
were  Avilling  to  become  his  parasites.  Such  a  man  ever  in  some 
manner  desires  to  be  flattered,  and  which  flattery  in  reality  is  the 
same  adoration,  the  same  enjoyment  on  a  miniature  scale,  which 
the  Oriental  despot  tastes  when  his  subjects  prostrate  themselves 
in  his  presence  ;  and  is  that  whicli  in  ancient  times  caused  men  to 
be  worshipped  as  gods — and  which,  if  permitted  to  go  on,  would 
take  up  arms  against  the  Deity  himself  for  universal  empire : 
hence,  leather  than  permit  the  man  who  prides  himself  on  his  own 
intelligence  to  rush  into  the  Aery  sin  which  above  all  others  was 
the  primary  cause  of  man's  fall,  riches  and  prosperity  are  not 
given,  and  bitter  medicine,  even  the  very  dregs  of  the  cup  of  sor- 
row, are  administered  by  the  great  Physician  for  his  restoration 
and  to  prepare  him  for  the  eternal  scenes  of  the  future.  Yet  in 
all  this,  not  one  law  of  the  Divine  ProAndence  is  violated,  and 
success  or  failure,  as  a  general  rule,  can  be  traced  to  natural 
causes,  which  ever  are  the  substratum  of  the  moral  and  spiiitual. 

Swedenborg  informs  us,  that  the  time  is  to  come  when  an  en- 
tirely different  class  is  to  arise,  from  those  who  now  throng  the 
temple  of  fame  ;  that  they  are  not  to  be  seekers  after  self-adora- 
tion and  posthumous  honors,  but  are  to  be  lovers  of  truth,  vir- 
tue, and  justice  for   then-  own  sake,  ever  exerting  themselves  for 


MEN    OF    GENIUS,  285 

the  public  good — men  who,  in  our  halls  of  legislation,  will  by 
their  eloquence  and  learning  be  the  focus  of  attraction  and  ad- 
miration, yet  at  the  same  time  in  private  life  will  exhibit  the 
child-like  simplicity  mentioned  by  the  Saviour,  and  by  their  un- 
assuming manners  show  that  they  are  not  filled  with  the  canker 
and  bane  of  Ufe,  self-love,  and  ascribe  the  merit  and  praise  to 
the  Giver  of  every  good  gift.  Such  men,  if  they  desired  it, 
could  be  trusted  with  affluence ;  for  it  wovdd  humble  instead  of 
,  exalt  them,  and  the  more  they  increased  their  knowledge,  the 
more  they  would  confess  their  ignorance,  and  become  aware  how 
little  they  possessed  in  comparison  with  that  which  can  be  known. 

The  poet  Longfellow  has  right  views  concerning  the  motive 
which  should  actuate  the  man  of  genius.  Thus  he  says :  "  It  is 
better,  therefore,  that  men  should  soon  make  up  their  minds  to 
be  forgotten,  and  look  about  them,  or  Avithin  them,  for  some 
higher  motives  in  what  they  do  than  the  approbation  of  men, 
which  is  fame :  namely,  their  duty ;  that  they  should  be  con- 
stantly and  quietly  at  work,  each  in  his  own  sphere,  regardless 
of  effects,  and  leave  fame  to  take  care  of  itself." 

We  have  often  thought  that  if  the  desires  of  the  great  mass  of 
mankind  were  gratified,  what  a  state  oithings  would  be  produced. 
Thus,  it  is  the  great  desire  of  thousands  of  the  laboring  classes  in 
this  country  that  they  may  become  rich  and  cease  from  Avork. 
Let  us  suppose  that  such  a  result  occurred  in  the  State  of  New 
York.  A  year  would  not  elapse  before  an  increase  of  intem- 
perance, Sabbath-breaking,  and  crime  of  every  description  would 
be  the  consequence.  The  police  would  have  largely  to  be  in- 
creased, if  aid  had  not  to  be  requu-ed  from  the  general  govern- 
ment ;  and  so  far  from  raising  sufficient  for  the  support  of  its  in- 
habitants, the  necessaries  of  life  would  have  to  be  imported  from 
other  States,  for  feAV  Avould  labor  when  all  were  rich.  Thou- 
sands who  now  enjoy  robust  health,  and  partake  of  their  meals 
with  an  appetite  and  zest  unknown  to  the  wealthy,  and  quietly 
rest  after  the  labors  of  the  day,  would  toss  upon  beds  of  anguish, 
reproved  by  a  wounded  conscience,  or  devoured  by  ennui- — 
would  endeavor,  no  matter  in  what  manner,  to  throw  off  those 
energies  Avhich  cannot  sleep. 

An  eminent  author  says,  "  To  suspend  for  one  week  the  vast 
multitudes  that  are  employed  in  the  several  mechanical  trades 


286  THE   DIVINE   PKOVIUENCR, 

and  manufactories  in  Great  Britain,  would  be  to  run  the  risk  of 
involving  the  metropolis  of  that  great,  flourishing,  and  poweifid 
country  once  more  in  flames ;  for  it  would  be  converting  the 
populace  into  an  aptly  disposed  train  of  combustible  matter,  which 
being  kindled  by  the  least  spark  of  accidental  enthusiasm,  by  the 
heat  of  political  faction,  or  indeed  by  their  own  internal  fennenta- 
tion,  would  explode  into  the  most  flagrant  enormities." 

He  adds :  "  Nothing  contributes  more  essentially  to  the  tran- 
quillity of  a  nation,  and  to  the  peaceful  demeanor  of  its  inhabitants, 
than  those  artificial  wants  which  luxury  introduces  ;  for  by  creating 
a  demand  for  the  fashionable  articles,  they  engage  the  attention,  and 
employ  the  hands  of  a  multitude  of  manuf;icturei-s  and  artificers, 
who,  if  they  were  left  in  that  restless  indolence  which  the  want  of 
work  creates,  would  certainly  be  unhappy  themselves,  and  in  all 
probability  would  be  fomentuig  mischief  in  the  minds  of  others." 

Labor,  Swedenborg  teaches,  is  the  one  great  thing  by  which 
the  Divine  Providence  is  enabled  to  put  a  check  upon  man's  evil 
nature,  and  without  w^hich  exertion  life  would  be  undesirable ; 
yet,  as  we  have  before  shown,  there  are  those  who,  from  a  mis- 
interpretation of  Scripture,  have  taught  that  happiness  consisted 
in  a  cessation  from  exertion,  and  that  it  was  the  greatest  gift  that 
heaven  could  bestow.  A  more  pernicious  error,  and  that  labor  is  a 
curse,  could  not  have  been  circulated  ;  yet  how  many  thousands 
adopt  it  as  their  motto,  and  endeavor  to  make  rest  or  idleness 
their  heaven  upon  earth  ! 

The  New  Dispensation  throws  much  light  upon  the  subject  of 
legislation.  Thus,  with  respect  to  licensing  houses  where  intoxi- 
cating liquors  are  sold,  it  informs  us  that  in  the  present  condition 
of  society  there  are  such  things  as  unavoidable  evils,  and  that  in- 
temperance is  one  of  them.  It  is  stated,  that  man  is  of  so  cor- 
rupt and  fallen  a  nature,  that  if  his  evil  inclinations  and  desires 
were  not  in  some  manner  gratified,  he  would  rush  into  the  great- 
est enormities.  Thus,  in  regard  to  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
it  is  intimated  that  if  the  most  severe  measures  Avere  taken,  either 
a  revolt  would  break  out,  or  the  people  Avould  resort  to  stimulants 
far  more  injurious  than  alcohol.  These  views  are  borne  out  by  ex- 
perience, and  it  is  found  that  in  those  cities*  where  few  or  no  hcenses 

*  We  refer  to  Boston  and  New  York,  and  those  years  when  few  licenses 
were  granted. 


LEGISLATION.  287 

have  been  granted,  there  has  been  more  alcohol  sold,  and  gieater 
numbers  brought  before  our  criminal  courts  charged  with  drunk- 
enness, than  in  those  years  when  with  discrimination  the  usual 
licenses  have  been  given.  This  has  arisen,  not  only  because  there 
are  those  who  will  have  their  favorite  stimulus,  but  also  from  the 
reason  that  vast  numbers  act  on  the  principle  that  "  stolen  fruit  is 
the  sweetest,"  and  take  a  pride  in  defying  the  prohibition.  When 
no  licenses  are  granted,  every  measure  is  taken  to  evade  the  law. 
The  story  of  the  striped  pig  is  well  known,  and  we  doubt  whether 
there  is  a  temperance  steamboat  in  which  the  same  system  of  de- 
ception is  not  practised,  and  alcohol  at  an  exorbitant  price  dealt 
out  to  those  whose  health  require  it  ;  and  which  class  of  persons, 
we  need  not  say,  are  numerous,  frequently  more  being  sold  than 
if  a  regular  bar  was  opened. 

It  has  been  ascertained  that,  since  the  numerous  temper- 
ance societies  have  been  organized,  the  consumption  of  opium 
has  largely  increased,  and  many  have  secretly  resorted  to  the  use 
of  it  who  could  not,  Avithout  injury  to  their  reputation,  partake  of 
their  accustomed  alcoholic  stimulus.  The  same  can  also  be  said 
of  strong  ale  or  beer ;  and  we  do  not  beUeve  there  ever  was  a  time 
when  more  tobacco,  under  the  form  of  cigars,  was  used  by  the 
youth  of  our  country  than  at  present.  Tliis  has  arisen  because 
both  tobacco  and  ale  are  stimulants,  and  answer,  in  a  great 
degree,  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  taken.  And  they  do 
answer  the  intention — for  we  are  fully  of  the  opinion,  that  if  many 
of  our  mechanics  and  farmers  had  it  not  in  their  power,  after  the 
severe  labors  of  the  day,  to  allay  a  nervous  irritation  and  want  of 
society  by  the  use  of  tobacco  or  of  a  pipe,  they  would,  instead  of 
remaining  at  home,  resort  to  the  bar-room,  and  from  a  httle  evil 
rush  into  the  greatest  excesses. 

We  might,  for  the  purpose  of  further  illustrating  the  subject, 
go  on  to  mention  those  houses  which,  as  truly  said,  "  are  the  way 
to  hell,  and  the  going  down  to  tlie  chambers  of  death,"  but  we 
refrain ;  sufficient  is  it  to  say,  that  if  they  were  not  winked  at, 
public  and  private  licentiousness  would  increase  to  a  fearful  ex- 
tent, and  those  enormities  occur,  which  on  an  occasion  of  this 
nature,  and  Avlien  the  experiment  was  permitted,  took  place  in 
the  capital  of  Prussia. 

Yet  with  these  facts,  and  many  others  of  like  nature,  and  hj 


288  THE   pniNE   PROVIDENCE. 

ionorance  of  the  great  law  which  governs,  there  are  those  who,  if 
they  had  it  in  their  power,  would  pass  laws  making  it  a  penal 
offence  for  any  to  manufacture  or  vend  spirituous  liquors,  or  to  in- 
dulge in  the  use  of  tobacco  ;  and,  indeed,  would  carry  the  principle 
so  far  as  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  law  in  putting  down  evils  of  every 
nature.  Thus,  a  Mr.  Kingsbury,  who  may  be  considered  as  the 
representative  of  this  class  of  persons,  in  his  (no  doubt)  sincere 
desire  to  arrest  the  evils  which  threaten  to  destroy  the  country, 
has  Avritten  a  book  entitled  "  Law  .uid  Government,"  and  in  which 
these  ultra  views  are  advocated.  Thus  he  states  it  as  a  truth, 
that  "  the  grand  principle  of  civil  administration  is  to  prohibit 
every  thing  that  is  wrong,  or  that  is  advei-se  to  the  general  wel- 
fare, and  to  command  the  perfonnance  of  all  those  moral  and 
secular  duties  which  the  government  has  the  ability  to  enforce." — 
(Sec.  v.,  p.  51.)  He  even  recommends  that  a  government  should 
be  constructed  on  the  principle  of  the  old  Mosjuc  code ;  for  he 
says,  after  citing  it,  that  ''  no  one  can  doubt,  after  examining  the 
precepts  and  penalties,  that  it  was  a  part  of  God's  design  in  the 
institution  of  their  civil  government,  that  it  should  protect  as  well 
the  first  table  of  his  moral  code  as  the  second ;  and  as  well  the 
duties  of  religion  as  of  morality.  And  why  not  extend  it  to  all 
civil  govei'nments ?  We  are  aware  that  many  will  not  allow  this 
extension,  nevertheless  the  position,  we  doubt  not,  is  tenable." — 
(Sec.  VI.,  p.  79.) 

The  great  difficulty  with  this  ^vriter  is,  not  that  it  is  false  to 
assert  that  the  grand  principle  of  civil  administration  is  to  prohibit 
every  thing  which  is  advei-se  to  the  general  welfare,  but  that  he 
has  carried  the  principle  too  far ;  for  when  he  proceeds  to  say 
that  "  a  government  should  command  the  performance  of  all  moral 
and  secular  duties — should  make  those  governed  attend  worship 
on  the  Sabbath,  and  cease  from  drunkenness,  the  making  or 
vending  of  alcohol,  licentiousness,  profane  sweanng,  the  inculca- 
tion of  irreligious,  infidel,  or  atheistic  sentiments,"  he  requires 
that  which  not  only  would  destroy  all  freedom  and  bring  back  the 
worst  days  of  Church  tyranny,  but  at  the  same  time  expects  to 
fmxe  the  ^•icious  into  a  reformation,  and  which  we  need  not  say 
is,  of  all  things,  the  most  impossible.  If  he  had  understood  the 
great  law  which  governs,  and  that  man  is  free,  and  that  there  is 
that  which  is  known  in  the  divine  economy  as  una\  oidable  evils. 


OBJECTION    ANSWKRKD,  289 

he  would  have  seen  that  all  those  things  which  he  so  much  de- 
sires to  put  down,  are  so  many  safety-valves  to  man's  corrupt  and 
fallen  nature,  and  which,  if  closed  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  would 
in  time  so  excite  his  infuriated  passions,  that,  like  a  pent-up  vol- 
cano, they  would  suddenly  burst  forth  and  sweep  all  before  them ; 
committing,  as  we  have  before  observed,  excesses*  and  outbreaks 
to  which  those  evils  which  now  exist  bear  no  comparison.! 

But  it  may  be  said,  with  this  view  of  the  subject,  we  advocate 
the  extension  of  evil  and  crime  ;  but  this  is  the  furthest  from  what 
was  intended  to  be  conveyed,  and  would  be  the  greatest  perver- 
sion of  our  sentiments.     We  advocate,  it  is  true,  the  granting  of 

*  "  It  is  not  from  the  Divine  Providence  that  wars  exist,  because  tliey  are 
united  with  murders,  plunders,  violence,  cruelties,  and  other  enormous 
evils,  which  are  diametrically  against  Christian  charity ;  but  still  they  can- 
not but  be  permitted,  because  the  life's  love  of  man  (or  his  evil  nature)  has 
become  such  .  .  .  Hence  it  is  that  evils  cannot  be  repressed  lay  any  provi- 
dence ;  for  thus  they  would  remain  shut  in,  and,  like  the  disease  which  is 
called  cancer  and  gangrene,  would  spread  around  and  consume  all  human 
vitality."— I).  P.,  251. 

t  Mr.  Webster,  in  his  speech  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
Marcli,  1850,  on  the  subject  of  Slavery  (and  which,  under  the  present  state 
of  tilings,  may  be  considered  as  one  of  tlie  unavoidable  evils),  thus  happily 
alludes  to  a  class  of  persons  who,  if  they  cannot  have  every  thing  perfect, 
wish  not  to  have  it  at  all.  lie  says  :  "  There  are  men  who  are  apt  to  think 
that  nothing  is  good  but  what  is  perfectly  good ;  that  there  are  no  com- 
promises or  modifications  to  be  made  in  submission  to  difference  of  opinion, 
or  in  deference  to  other  men's  judgment.  If  their  perspicacious  vision  enables 
them  to  detect  a  spot  on  the  face  of  the  sun,  thej'  think  that  a  good  reason 
why  the  sun  should  be  struck  down  from  heaven.  They  prefer  the  chance 
of  running  injo  utter  darkness  to  living  in  the  heavenly  light,  if  that  heavenly 
light  is  to  be  not  absolutely  without  any  imperfection." 

"These  are  impatient  men,  too  impatient  always  to  give  heed  to  the  ad- 
monition of  St.  Paul,  that  we  are  not  'to  do  evil  that  good  may  come;'  too 
impatient  to  wait  for  the  slow  progress  of  moral  causes  in  the  improvement 
of  mankind.  They  do  not  remember  that  the  doctrines  and  the  miracles  of 
Jesus  Christ  have,  in  1800  years,  converted  only  a  small  portion  of  the  hu- 
man race ;  and,  among  the  nations  converted  to  Christianity,  they  forget 
how  many  vices  and  crimes,  public  and  private,  still  prevail,  and  that  many 
of  them — the  public  crimes  especially — offences  against  tlie  Christian  religion, 
pass  without  exciting  particular  regret  or  indignation.  Thus  wars  are  waged, 
and  unjust  wars.  1  do  not  deny  that  there  may  be  just  wars,  there  certainly 
are;  but  it  was  the  remark  of  an  eminent  person,  not  many  years  ago,  upon 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  that  it  was  one  of  the  greatest  reproaches  to 
human  nature,  that  wars  were  sometimes  necessary  for  the  defence  of  na- 
tions, that  they  were  sometimes  called  for  against  the  injustice  of  other 
nations !" 

19 


290  THE   DIVINE    PROVIDENCE. 

licenses,  yet  would  exercise  a  just  discrimination  in  the  bestowing 
of  them  ;  and  such  granting  is  not  the  extending  of  evil,  but  the 
restraining  it  within  proper  limits,  and  preparing  the  time  when 
it  may  be  done  away  with,  and  which  would  not  be  the  case  if 
none  were  given ;  for  then,  as  has  been  shown,  a  greater  e\-il 
would  result.  By  the  permitting  of  that  which  is  imavoidable, 
we  do  not  infringe  upon  man's  freedom,  but  are  able  to  address 
ourself  to  his  reason,  and  by  the  power  of  truth  and  our  own  ex- 
ample, evince  to  him  that  he  is  injuring  himself,  and  is  his  own 
tormentor ;  and  such  a  course  could  not  be  adopted  if  harsh 
measures  were  used,  for  then  his  anger  would  be  aroused,  and  all 
reasoning  become  useless. 

No  one  is  more  ready  to  assist  and  uphold  the  law  than  the 
New  Churchman,  obedience  to  the  law  being  the  grand  prin- 
ciple upon  which  his  faith  is  founded ;  yet  (not  expecting  to 
reform  the  world  in  a  day),  he  obeys  and  endeavors  to  pro- 
m.ulgate  a  system  of  legislation  which  takes  rational  views,  and 
one  which  is  to  act  in  a  progressive  manner.  He  is  not  alarmed 
at  the  signs  of  the  times,  or  by  the  attacks  upon  the  Scriptures 
and  the  dissemination  of  atheistical  and  infidel  sentiments ;  for  he 
knows  that  these  evils  will  correct  themselves  and  are  not  to  be 
avoided,  and  that  by  putting  doAvn  all  free  discussion  no  inquiry 
would  rise,  and  the  days  of  superstition  return.  The  doctrine 
with  him  is,  not  to  force  mankind  to  be  good,  but  by  the  power 
of  reason  and  example  to  show  them  the  madness  of  sin,  or  the 
disobeying  the  laws  by  which  the  universe  is  governed.  He 
would  continue  the  present  system  of  legislation  which  forbids 
gross  violations  of  the  peace,  but,  at  the  same  time,  as  the  people 
become  more  enlightened  and  educated,  would  leave  it  to  them 
to  say  whether  laws  which  are  now  on  our  statute  books  should  be 
observed.  Thus,  he  would  not  compel  any  to  cease  from  travelling 
on  the  Sabbath  who  were  disposed  to  do  so,  as  such  obedience 
would  be  forced  and  insincere.  It  is  his  belief  that  there  is  a 
sufficient  number  who  can  show  that  the  cessation  of  labor  on 
the  Sabbath  is,  to  say  nothing  in  respect  to  religious  views,  a 
most  excellent  custom,  and  one  without  which  the  laboring 
classes  would  have  no  day  of  rest ;  and  hence  it  is  for  the  interest 
of  all  to  have  it  continued.  And  the  same  course  he  would  take 
in  regard  to  the  Bible  ;  and  if  it  is  seen  that  learned  skeptics  at- 


THE    DIVINE    PROVIDENCE.  291 

tempt  to  overthrow  it,  he  would  not  prohibit  it,  as  he  knoAvs 
there  will  be  found  those  who,  armed  with  the  new  truths,  can 
avoid  former  objections,  and  exhibit  its  authenticity  and  superiority- 
over  all  other  creeds.  And  so  far  from  being  disturbed  because 
it  is  generally  unknown  that  there  are  in  the  present  state  of 
things  unavoidable  evils,  he  is  content  it  should  be  so.  It  beino- 
seen  that  if  the  real  truth  was  generally  taught  from  our  pulpits, 
there  would  be  danger  that  the  belief  would  be  perverted ;  and 
that  as  it  is,  by  asserting  that  it  is  possible  (if  power  were  given) 
to  eradicate  intemperance  and  abuses  of  every  nature,  the  balance 
is  preserved,  a  proper  check  presented,  and  those  who  are  io-no- 
rant  of  God's  laws  and  an  overruling  providence,  made  subser- 
vient to  them. 

A  further  illustration  of  the  subject  (if  time  permitted)  might 
be  given,  yet  we  trust  sufficient  has  been  said  to  give  the  reader 
some  idea  of  those  laws  by  which  it  is  asserted  mankind  are 
governed.  To  those  Avho  are  sufficiently  interested  to  examine 
further,  reference  is  made  to  Swedenborg's  "  Divine  Providence," 
a  volume  in  which  not  only  are  made  disclosures  in  regard  to  the 
inward  motives  of  human  action  (and  which  are  generally  believed 
will  be  made  known  only  in  another  existence),  but  at  the  same 
time  a  key  is  given  by  which  those  difficult  questions  that  now 
perplex  and  agitate  the  public  mind  may  be  solved.  It  is  our  be- 
lief that  the  time  is  approaching  when  the  principles  there  taught, 
and  to  which  allusion  has  been  made  in  the  present  section,  will 
become  the  practical  tniths  by  Avhich  society  is  to  be  governed  ; 
and  that  others  than  New  Churchmen  will  see  the  necessity  of 
forbearance,  and  of  taking  that  part  by  which  alone  the  evil  can 
be  put  away,  and  the  plan  of  the  Divine  Providence  consum- 
mated. 


SECTION    XY 


CONCLUSION. 


The  reader  has  now  before  him  a  brief  exposition  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  New  Dispensation.  In  an  examination  of  so  novel  a 
subject,  involving  claims  of  such  a  peculiar  character,  the  first  in- 
quiry which  naturally  arises  is,  Whether  there  is  a  necessity  for 
such  a  revelation  ?  whether  it  is  true  that  there  are  difficulties  in 
respect  to  the  interpreting  of  the  Scriptures  ?  In  regard  to  this, 
we  think  that  it  has  been  conclusively  shown  that  there  is  such  a 
necessity,  and  that  the  time  has  arrived  when,  for  the  interests  of 
Christianity,  and  for  the  sake  of  preserving  a  respect  for  tlie 
Bible,  and  belief  in  its  inspiration,  an  explanation  should  be  given. 
As  far  back  as  the  eighteenth  century  it  was  seen  that  there 
were  difficulties  in  respect  to  interpreting  the  Scriptures,  and 
that  every  proof  was  needed  to  sustain  them.  Thus  Dr.  Paley, 
in  his  preface  to  the  "  Evidences  of  Christianity,"  says  :  "  I  deem 
it  unnecessary  to  prove  that  mankind  stood  in  need  of  a  revela- 
tion, because  I  have  met  with  no  serious  person  who  thinks  that 
even  under  the  Christian  revelation  we  have  too  much  light,  or 
any  degree  of  assurance  which  is  superfluous."  And  if  views 
like  these  were  held  in  that  age,  a  period  when  reason  was  held 
subject  to  faith,  how  much  more .  necessary  that  the  genuineness 
of  the  Scriptures  should  be  shown  in  the  present  century — an 
era  which  holds  nothing  too  serious  for  investigation,  and,  as  truly 
said,  "treats  hoary  opinions  as  if  they  wei-e  of  yesterday's 
growth!" 

Nothing  more  evinces  the  necessity  of  such  an  explanation, 
than  the  fact  that  each  year  presents  a  new  volume,  in  which. 


SCRIPTURE   ALLEGORIES.  293 

openly  or  indirectly,  the  authenticity  of  the  Scriptures  is  attacked. 
Even  tliose  writers  who  are  believed  to  be  devoted  to  the  sup- 
port of  a  true  and  evangelical  religion,  are  unknowingly  taking  a 
part  in  injuring  a  belief  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Sacred  Records. 
Thus,  so  eminent  a  work  and  standard  authority  as  Kitto's  Bibli- 
cal Encyclopaedia  informs  the  theological  student  (and  without 
elucidation)  that  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  particularly  that 
which  gives  a  narration  of  the  Creation,  is  not  history.  It  states, 
that  "  thQ  one  grand  fact  couched  in  the  general  assertion  that 
all  things  were  created  by  the  sole  power  of  one  Supreme  Being, 
is  the  whole  of  the  representation  to  which  an  historical  character 
can  be  assigned" — that  as  to  the  remainder,  it  cannot  be  history, 
"j7  mcuj  be  jioetry.'"  And  if  so,  can  it  be  supposed  that  the 
Books  of  Moses  will  be  considered  as  a  supernatural  and  divine 
work  ?  It  is  in  vain  to  believe  it ;  and  each  day  evinces,  that 
either  Swedenborg's  interpretation  must  be  admitted,  or  the 
books  known  as  the  Pentateuch  be  considered  as  a  human  com- 
position. It  is  idle  to  attempt  to  make  the  figurative  language 
(or  but  a  small  part)  of  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  agree  with 
what  is  known  to  be  the  truth;  and  the  period  is  not  far 
distant  when  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  a  designed  allegory  with 
a  spiritual  and  hidde^i  sense,  which  was  intended  for  more  en- 
lightened generations  than  those  to  whom  it  was  at  first  given. 

In  former  periods  no  parts  of  the  Scriptures  were  considered 
to  be  figurative  and  allegorical,  except  those  which  bore  upon 
their  face  a  deviation.  Thus  in  the  passages  in  which  it  is  said, 
that  "  God  rode  upon  a  cherub  and  flew  upon  the  wings  of  the 
wind,"  and  "the  mountains  should  drop  new  wine  and  the  hills 
flow  with  honey,"  the  figurative  language  is  e^^dent;  but  when 
we  come  to  narrations  in  which  it  is  asserted  that  God  rested  on 
the  seventh  day,  and  repented  that  he  had  made  man,  and  for 
this  reason  brought  a  deluge  on  the  earth,  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand what  is  intended.  For  there  is  seemingly  no  figure,  no 
symbol,  and  the  information  is  given  in  the  plainest  and  most 
simple  language ;  yet  nevertheless,  there  is  a  figure  and  hidden 
meaning,  and  hence  the  difference  between  the  allegories  of  the 
Scriptures  and  those  composed  by  others.  It  is  stated  as  an  his- 
toiilfeal  fact,  that  God  tempted  Abraham  and  Pharaoh ;  yet  in 
,the  New  Testament  we  read  that  God  tempts  no  man,  but  every 


294  CONCLUSIOK. 

one  is  tempted  or  led  away  by  his  evil  heart.  Swedenborg 
teaches  that  by  God's  being  said  to  tempt  man,  is  represented 
an  apparent  truth  :  and  that  in  reality  the  Supreme  Ruler  did  not 
tempt  Abraham  or  Pharaoh,  and  that  each  exercised  his  freedom, 
as  is  done  at  the  present  day. 

Again,  we  read  in  Genesis  xviii.  20,  21,  "The  Lord  said,  Be- 
cause the  cry  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  is  great,  and  because 
their  sin  is  very  grievous,  /  luill  go  down  now,  and  see  whether 
they  have  done  altogether  according  to  the  erg  of  it,  which  is  come 
unto  me  ;  and  if  not,  I  will  knoiv."  Of  the  Amorites  who  went 
up  with  the  five  kings  it  is  said :  "  And  the  Lord  discomfited 
them  before  Israel,  and  slew  them  with  great  slaughter  at  Gibe- 
on,  and  chased  them  along  the  way  that  goeth  up  to  Beth-horon, 
and  smote  them  to  Azekah,  and  unto  Makkedah.  And  it  came 
to  pass,  as  they  fled  before  Israel  and  were  going  down  to  Beth- 
horon,  that  the  Lord  cast  down  great  stones  from  heaven  upon 
them  unto  Azekah,  and  they  died." — Joshua  x.  11. 

Passages  of  this  'nature  fully  exhibit  the  views  held  at  that 
period  ;  and  it  is  now  seen  that  the  Supreme  Being  does  not  cast 
great  stones  upon  his  enemies,  nor  is  necessitated  to  come  down 
from  heaven  to  witness  the  actions  of  mankind.  As  remarked, 
"  the  ideas  of  the  Jews  were  low  and  sensual,  their  usual  methods 
of  thinking  on  religious  subjects  were  influenced  by  the  mytholo- 
gies of  the  nations  by  whom  they  were  surrounded,  and  were  in 
some  of  their  leading  features  essentially  pagan ;  hence  to  meet 
their  conceptions,  to  get  hold  of  the  stratum  in  which  their  trains 
of  thought  ran,  and  bend  them  upward  towards  a  higher  plane, 
it  was  necessary  that  the  truth  shoulfl  clothe  itself  before  their 
minds  in  such  apparent  forms."  These,  or  similar  views,  are 
taken  by  Professor  Park,  in  a  discourse  recently  delivered  before 
the  convention  of  the  Congregationalist  ministers  of  Massachusetts. 
Thus  he  says :  "  In  order  to  hold  the  Jews  back  from  the  foul, 
cruel  vices  of  their  neighbors — the  Tyrian,  Moabite,  Ammonite, 
Egyptian,  Philistine,  Babylonian — in  order  to  stop  their  indul- 
gence in  the  degrading  worship  of  Moloch,  Dagon,  Baal,  Tam- 
muz,  they  were  plied  with  a  stern  theology,  well  fitted  by  its 
terrible  denunciations  to  save  them  from  the  crime  which  was 
still  more  terrible.  They  were  told  of  the  jealousy  and  angA-  of 
the  Lord,  of  his  breastplate,  helmet,  bow,  arrows,  spear,  sword. 


TWO    KINDS    OF   THEOLOGY.  295 

glittering  sword,  and  raiment  stained  with  blood.  This  fearful 
anthropomorphism  enstamped  a  truth  upon  their  hearts ;  but 
when  they  needed  a  soothing  influence,  they  were  assured  that 
'  the  Lord  shall  feed  his  flock  hke  a  shepherd,  he  shall  gather 
the  lambs  with  his  arm  and  carry  them  in  his  bosom,  and  shall 
gently  lead  those  that  are  with  young.' "  Again,  he  says,  speak- 
ing of  the  passage  where  it  is  declared  that  God  repented  of 
having  made  the  race,  and  was  grieved  and  weary,  that  "  these 
expressions  do  not  indicate  that  Jehovah  has  ever  parted  with 
his  infinite  blessedness,  or  ever  repents,  but  that  he  assumed 
these  discordant  forms  so  as  to  meet  the  affections  in  their  con- 
flicting moods."  According  to  his  view,  the  Scriptures  are  writ- 
ten in  two  diff"erent  raannei's,  and  have  a  theology  for  the  intellect 

and  one  for  the  feehnofs.     The  theoloffv  of  the  feelinors  corre- 
ct GJ  o 

sponds  to  Swedenborg's  apparent  truths,  and  the  theology  of  the 
intellect  to  those  which  are  designated  as  real.  It  is  stated  that 
the  one  includes  the  decisions  of  judgment  and  all  the  fiiculties 
which  are  essential  to  the  reasoning  process.  But  the  other 
studies  not  the  exact  proportion  of  doctrine,  but  gives  especial 
prominence  to  those  features  of  it  Avhich  are  most  grateful  to  the 
sensibilities  ;  that  when  literally  interpreted  it  may  or  may  not  be 
false,  and  aims  to  be  impressive,  whether  it  be  or  not  minutely 
accurate.  We  are  informed  that  Martin  Luther  and  the  Church 
Fathers  used  this  "  free  theology  of  the  feeUngs,"  and  hence 
"  they  are  unsafe  polemics." 

Now  if  the  views  advanced  by  this  eminent  wiiter  be  correct, 
and  it  be  admitted  there  are  these  two  forms  of  belief,  and 
that  the  Jews  were  plied  with  a  stern  theology,  well  fitted 
from  its  terrible  denunciations  to  save  them  from  ruin,  why  can- 
not the  same  be  found  in  the  New  Testament  ?  and  why  may  it 
not  be  true  that  the  theoloa  y  of  the  feeling's  has  been  introduced 
in  the  popular  doctrine  concerning  the  personal  advent  of  the 
Son  of  man,  the  i-esurrection  of  the  body,  and  the  material  pun- 
ishment of  the  wicked  ?  We  believe  that  it  would  be  difficult  to 
show  that  this  is  not  a  sound  inference,  and  that  this  same  the- 
ology of  the  -feelings,  with  its  figures  and  symbols,  is  not  in  a 
most  providential  and  wonderful  manner  introduced  in  the  doc- 
trine of  the  second  advent,  and  intended  for  others  than  the 
primitive  Cliristians.     If  we  are  not  mistaken.  Professor  Park 


296  CONCLUSION. 

holds  himself  in  regard  to  these  great  subjects  far  different  \iews 
from  those  adopted  by  others,  who  yet  adhere  to  the  unsafe 
polemics  of  other  days.  He  does  not  believe  that  the  converted 
islanders  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  or  two  antipodes,  will  both 
rise  up  in  opposite  directions  to  one  locality ;  that  a  throne  will 
be  erected  ;  and  that  "  God  like  an  earthly  monarch  keeps  written 
archives  of  the  affiiirs  of  his  kingdom,"  but  that  the  demonstrable 
ideas  of  many  would  evaporate,  "  unless  they  were  illustrated  by 
one  individual  day  of  the  grand  assize,  by  the  particular  question- 
ings and  answerings,  the  opened  book,  and  other  minute  formali- 
ties of  the  court."  It  is  intimated  that  the  Old  Church  has,  in 
forming  its  Confession  of  Faith,  joined  apparent  truths  with  those 
which  are  real,  and  thus  founded  doctrines  which  are  any  thing 
but  rational  and  agreeable  to  the  theology  of  the  intellect.  Pro- 
fessor P.  says,  if  it  should  be  insisted  the  theology  of  the  feel- 
ings as  exhibited  in  the  Sci-iptures  should  be  received  as  truth, 
"  then  I  shall  not  demur  at  phrases  in  a  Confession  of  Faith  over 
which,  in  my  deliberate  perusal,  I  star/r/er,  and  am  at  my  wit's 
end."  He  adds  :  "  Wrap  me  in  mediaeval  robes — place  me  un- 
der the  wide-spreading  arches  of  a  cathedral — let  the  tide  of 
melody  from  the  organ  float  along  the  columns  that  branch  out 
like  the  trees  of  the  forest  over  my  head — then  bring  to  me  a 
creed  written  in  illuminated  letters,  its  history  redolent  of  ven- 
erable associations,  its  words  fragrant  with  the  devotion  of  my 
fathers,  who  lived  and  died  familiar  with  them,  its  syllables  all 
solemn  and  goodly  sound,  and  bid  me  cantillate  its  phrases  to  the 
inspired  notes  of  minstrelsy,  my  eye  in  a  fine  phrensy  rolling, 
and  I  ask  no  questions  for  conscience'  sake.  I  am  ready  to  be- 
lieve what  is  placed  before  me.  I  look  beyond  the  antique 
words,  to  the  spirit  of  some  great  truth  that  lingers  somewhere 
around  them ;  and  in  this  nebulous  view,  I  believe  the  creed 
ivith  all  my  heart." 

This  candid  confession  of  this  eloquent  writer  exhibits,  it  is  be- 
lieved, the  convictions  of  hundreds  of  clergymen,  and  those  Avho 
have  subscribed  to  "  Confessions  of  Faith."  They  believe  "  with 
all  their  heart,"  because  the  words  are  taken  from  the  Scriptures, 
and  "  are  fragrant  with  the  devotions  of  their  fathers  ;"  and  from 
the  fact  that  they  rest  satisfied,  do  not  like  to  incur  the  responsi- 
bility, or  have  not  the  abihty  to  gainsay  them. 


OBJECTION   ANSWERED.  297 

The  discourse  of  Professor  Park  is  instructive,  as  it  exhibits 
the  doctrines  which  for  years  have  been  taught,  and  more  re- 
cently in  an  institution  established  for  the  express  purpose  of 
better  qualifying  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and  defenduig  the 
inspiration  of  the  Word.  It  also  exhibits  in  a  remarkable  degree 
the  stern  necessity  which  exists  for  an  explanation  of  sacred  mys- 
teries. For  if  it  is  admitted  that  the  Bible  has  a  theology  for 
the  feelings,  and  one  for  the  intellect — that  these  two  are  found 
in  every  part  of  the  Scriptures,  and  continually  intermingle  Avith 
each  other,  how  necessary  is  it  that  some  one  should  point  out 
the  latter  from  the  former,  the  real  from  the  apparent,  the  his- 
torical from  the  figurative !  And  who  can  effect  this  ?  who  is 
able  to  open  the  Book  and  loose  the  seals  thereof?  Avho  to  un- 
ravel the  mysteries,  emblems,  symbols,  and  figures  of  that  Avhich 
for  ages  has  defied  the  attempts  of  the  wisest  ?  There  is  no  one  ; 
or,  as  expressed  in  the  Scriptures,  "  No  man  in  heaven  nor  in 
earth,  neither  under  the  earth,  was  able  to  open  the  Book, 
neither  to  look  therein."  The  effort  has  again  and  again  been 
made,  and  it  is  shown  that  nothing  less  than  a  new  dispensation, 
a  new  revelation,  an  inteiposition  of  Him  who  alone  was  worthy 
to  take  the  volume,  can  elucidate  its  mysteries,  confirm  its  doc- 
trines, and  place  them  on  an  immutable  basis. 

It  may  be  urged  in  reply,  that  notwithstanding  the  mysteries 
of  the  Scriptures  are  great  and  past  finding  out,  yet  nevertheless 
it  is  still  evinced  there  is  sufficient  in  them  for  every  purpose. 
But  this  is  a  fallacy,  and  falsification  of  a  great  truth ;  and  with 
equal  consistency  the  Jew  might  assert  (as  he  does)  that  there  is 
sufficient  in  the  Old  Testament  for  salvation  ;  that  it  was  needless 
for  Christ  to  appear,  or  for  the  Christian  revelation  to  have  been 
given.  Yet  the  argument  will  not  be  admitted  ;  for  though  in  a 
certain  sense  it  is  seen  there  is  sufficient  in  the  Old  Testament  for 
salvation,  it  is  also  with  equal  distinctness  known  that  there  was 
a  necessity  at  that  period  that  a  new  belief  should  be  given ;  and 
that  at  the  close  of  the  Jewish  Dispensation  the  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees  had  so  perverted  the  truths  of  the  Scriptures  by  false 
doctrines,  that  they  with  difficulty  were  understood,  and  were 
without  vitality.  By  the  same  sophistry  the  opposer  of  the  New 
Dispensation  might  affirm  that  modem  improvements  are  un- 
necessary, and  that  man  could  do  as  well  without  as  with  them. 


298  CONCLUSION. 

But  this  is  an  assertion  which  cannot  be  supported.  It  is  true, 
in  former  ages  man  existed  without  labor-saving  machines ;  but 
the  times  are  changed,  and  it  requires  httle  argument  to  evince 
that  modern  agencies  and  discoveries,  under  the  present  state  of 
things,  are  absolutely  necessaiy  to  the  well-being,  the  regenera- 
tion, and  civilization  of  the  Avorld.  And  the  same  may  be  said 
of  religion.  The  theology  that  centuries  ago  performed  uses,  the 
theology  of  the  Catholic  Church,  of  Luther  and  the  Fathers, 
will  not  answ^er  for  the  era  of  the  nineteenth  centuiy ;  and 
hence  is  shown  the  wisdom  of  the  Author  of  the  Bible,  in  pro- 
viding a  new  revelation  of  truth  suitable  for  the  exigencies  of  the 
age. 

To  another  objection  which  is  urged  with  no  little  effect,  and 
which  affirms  that  it  is  difficult  to  receive  the  system  now  advo- 
cated, because  it  is  so  novel  and  singular,  Ave  reply  that  it  is  in- 
deed at  first  hard  to  believe  that  in  modern  times  the  Supreme 
Ruler  has  manifested  himself  through  a  human  instrument,  and 
removed  the  veil  from  those  mysteries  which  have  been  so  long 
concealed.  But  when  the  subject  is  considered,  when  it  is  found 
that  the  character  and  claims  of  Swedenborg  are  totally  different 
from  all  others  who  have  made  like  assertions,  and  the  state  of 
the  Church  and  Scriptures  are  examined,  we  do  not  see  a  neces- 
sity for  so  much  incredulity,  or  that  the  claims  of  the  New  Dis- 
pensation are  more  extraordinary  than  the  times  themselves. 
What  exclamations  would  proceed  from  our  ancestors  if  they  could 
reappear,  and  were  informed  that  the  Atlantic  could  be  crossed  in 
a  few  daA^s,  that  carriages  were  propelled  at  the  rate  of  fifty  to 
seventy-five  miles  the  hour,  and  that  news  could  be  instantane- 
ously sent  almost  regardless  of  time  or  distance !  These  things, 
and  other  extraordinary  novelties  and  wonders  of  the  age,  would 
not  only  be  denied  as  absurd,  but  absolutely  impossible.  And 
it  is  like  in  regard  to  the  truths  of  the  'Sew  Covenant :  they  are 
considered  as  the  dream  of  a  visionary,  and  incredible.  For  when 
it  is  taught  to  be  truth  and  a  reality  that  there  is  another  exist- 
ence, a  heaven  and  its  opposite — that  the  mighty  chasm  is  bridged 
and  a  connection  opened  between  the  natural  and  spiritual  world 
— the  announcement  is  overwhelming  to  the  minds  of  many,  and 
they  cannot,  dare  not,  believe  it.  Yet  the  truths  advocated  are 
as  fixed  and  immutable  as  the  great  laws  which  govern  the  uni- 


SPKEAD   OF   SKEPTICISM.  299 

verse ;  and  it  is  seen  that  life,  in  another  existence,  must  be  as 
represented,  or  all  revelation  is  a  delusion. 

That,  in  making  our  assertions  in  respect  to  the  dangers  which 
await  the  Bible,  we  have  not  made  gratuitous  or  fallacious  state- 
ments for  the  purpose  of  supporting  a  favorite  theory,  we  shall 
adduce  the  opinion  of  an  eminent  and  well-known  writer,  a  fol- 
lower of  the  Old  Church,  and  who,  in  a  work  recently  issued  from 
the  press  of  the  Messrs.  Harper,  thus  speaks  of  the  destiny  and 
perils  which  await  the  Scriptures  : 

He  says :  "  That  there  is  a  deep  danger  before  the  Bible,  a 
partial  eclipse  awaiting  it,  a  '  rock  ahead,'  we  are  firmly  per- 
suaded. Nay,  we  are  satisfied  that  the  dangers  are  so  numerous 
and  varied,  that  no  pilot  but  one  can  rescue  it,  and  in  it,  us,  the 
Church,  the  world." 

"  The  spread  of  skepticism  is  the  most  obvious  of  these  dangers. 
That  in  past  ages  seemed  to  stagnate  unless  when  it  was  fanned 
by  the  breath  of  political  excitement,  or  forced  on  by  the  influ- 
ence of  some  powerful  genius,  or  unless  its  waters  were  strength- 
ened by  the  foul  tributary  flood  of  licentiousness.  Now  it  is  more 
of  an  age  tendency,  a  Avorld-wide  calm  and  steady  current,  a  tide 
advancing  upon  young  and  old,  Avise  and  foohsh,  vicious  and 
moral,  cold  and  hot,  male  and  female,  half-informed  and  learned, 
high  and  low.  Skepticism  has  been  forund  of  late  in  strange 
places,  even  in  the  sanctuary  of  God.  In  proof  of  this,  we  have 
but  to  name  Foster  and  Arnold,  men  of  great  though  unequal 
name,  of  ardent,  religious  feelings,  representing  thousands,  and 
who  both  died,  torn  and  bleeding,  in  the  breakers  of  doubt.  The 
eff"ects  of  this  abounding  and  overflowing  stream  of  tendency  are 
most  pernicious.  It  has  made  the  rash  and  inconsiderate  aban- 
don churches,  and  openly  avow  their  unbelief ;  it  has  driven  one 
species  of  the  timid  into  the  arms  of  implicit  faith,  and  another 
into  a  shallow  and  transparent  hypocrisy  ;  while,  meantime,  the 
bigotry  of  some  is  hardening,  and  their  narrowness  closing  up, 
every  day  ;  while  others  are,  from  various  causes,  '  detained  be- 
fore the  Lord ;'  and  while  a  large  class  are  striving  to  forget 
their  doubts,  amid  the  clatter  of  mechanical  activities  and  the 
roar  of  the  applauses  by  which  the  report  of  these  is  in  public  re- 
ligious meetings  always  received.  But  on  still  the  dark  tide  is 
flowing,  and,  alas  !  gaining  groimd.    One  is  reminded  of  a  splendid 


300  CONCLUSION. 

drawing-room,  in  a  room  adjoining  to  which  a  secret  murder  has 
been  newly  committed.  Brilliant  is  the  scene,  gay  the  hghts, 
beautiful  the  countenances,  soft  the  music,  a  wall  of  mirrors  is  re- 
flecting the  various  joy  ;  but  below  the  feet  of  the  company  there 
is  slowly  stealing  along  the  silent  flood,  biding  its  time,  and  too 
secure  of  producing,  to  hasten,  the  teirible  effects  of  its  dis- 
covery." 

In  respect  to  the  inefficiency  of  the  means  possessed  by  the 
Christian  in  stemming  the  tide  of  infidehty,  the  aspect  of  the 
times,  and  of  their  resemblance  to  the  period  anterior  to  the 
Fretich  Revolution,  it  is  stated  : 

"  But  how  to  meet  and  counteract  this  wide  current  ?  Some 
say — laisscz  /aire — it  is  good  for  us  quietly  to  wait ;  there  was 
a  similar  tide  in  the  days  of  the  French  Revolution :  it  passed 
away,  and  the  old  landmarks  were  again  seen,  the  stronger  and 
dearer  for  the  danger.  And  so  it  may  be  again.  But  there  are 
imjjortant  differences.  That  was,  to  a  great  extent,  a  political 
movement.  It  involved,  too,  more  of  a  licentious  spirit ;  it  was  a 
revolt  against  the  Ten  Commandments ;  it  was  supported  in  a 
great  measure  bv  practical  Antinomians.  The  movement,  now, 
is  quieter,  deeper,  altogether  irrespective  of  politics,  and  partly  of 
morals.  And  though  we  were  willing  to  let  it  alone,  it  will  not 
let  us.  Its  consequences,  in  the  language  of  Burke,  are  '  about 
us,  they  are  upon  us,  they  shake  public  security,  they  menace 
private  enjoyment.  When  we  travel,  they  stop  our  way.  They 
infest  us  in  town,  they  pursue  us  to  the  country.'  No ;  whether 
we  can  stop  this  current  or  not,  it  is  vain  to  wait  till  it  pass,  vainer 
to  seek  to  let  it  alone. 

"  Efforts,  indeed,  to  check  it  are  nimierous,  in  the  form  of  lec- 
tures and  essays  on  the  Evidences ;  and  of  them  we  may  say, 
valeant  quantum  valere.  They  browbeat  insolent  and  shallow 
skepticism,  they  check  the  progress  of  individuals  on  their  erro- 
neous way,  they  at  least  add  to  the  smoke  of  the  right  side  of  the 
field,  if  not  to  its  efi"ectual  defence  or  raking  fire.  But  our  hopes 
of  all  or  any  of  them,  including  our  own  eff'orts  in  this  volume, 
are,  so  far  as  general  effect  upon  the  skeptical  mind  is  concerned, 
not  very  sanguine.  The  old  Adam,  the  natural  infidel  tendency 
of  the  heart,  strengthened  at  present  by  the  contagion  of  that  vast 
reUgious  corpse,  the  Continent^fty  the  perplexed  state  of  the  criti- 


JEWISH    AND    CHRISTIAN    CHURCHES.  301 

cal  and  metaphysical  questions  connected  with  the  Evidences — by 
the  dominance  of  fashion,  a  false  power,  but  waxing  greater  eveiy 
day — and  by  the  influence  of  a  large  portion  of  the  press,  is  be- 
coming too  strong  for  our  Melancthons,  young  or  old ;  who,  be- 
sides, do  but  too  manifestly  evince  that  their  own  hearts  are  fail- 
ing them,  for  fear  of  those  things  which  are  coming  upon  the 
world.  Books,  accordingly,  are  loosened,  each  after  each  (like 
the  horses  from  a  Russian  sledge,  pursued  by  the  wolves),  in 
sacrifice  to  the  destroyers,  who  swallow  all  greedily,  pause  a  mo- 
ment, and  then  resume  their  pursuit." 

After  remarking  how  vain  it  is  to  suppose  that  old  forms  of 
faith  can  act  in  preventing  the  evil,  of  their  bringing  darkness  to 
darkness,  of  the  continued  and  fierce  assaults  on  the  bulwarks  of 
the  Bible,  and  a  growing  impatience  on  the  subject  in  the  general 
mind,  Mr.  G.  goes  on  to  compare  the  present  condition  of  the 
Christian  Church  with  that  of  the  Jewish,  before  its  close  and 
consummation. 

He  says,  "  It  is  the  very  tale  of  the  Jewish  Temple  before  the 
advent  of  Christ.  It  had  fallen  into  comparative  contempt;  it 
was  under  an  enemy's  hand ;  it  was  not  only  forsaken  of  many 
men,  but  God's  fire  was  burning  low  upon  the  altar,  and  not  a 
few  voices  were  heard,  saying,  '  Raze,  raze  it  to  the  foundation.' 
Its  young  worshippers  seem  veiy  generally  to  have  forsaken  it. 
Still  Simeon  and  Anna,  Joseph  and  Mary — in  other  words,  the  old 
disciples — and  the  middle  class  of  men  and  of  women,  were  to  be 
found  faithfully  worshippmg,  and  Zacharias  and  Elizabeth  were 
diligently  ministering  there.  They  still  beheved  at  once  in  its 
former  divine  consecration,  its  present  connection  with  heaven, 
and  its  future  glory."  .... 

Again,  in  p.  344,  Mr.  G.  observes,  that  "  for  his  part  he  ex- 
pects the  Master  to  be  again  preceded  by  a  forerunner,  that  the 
Book  should  be  held  Avith  a  death's  grasp  until  One  come  to  ex- 
plain, supplement,  glorify  it  anew."  He  adds  in  conclusion: 
"  Nor  does  it  derogate  from  the  Bible  to  say,  that  it  must  receive 
aid  from  on  high  to  enable  it  to  '  stand  in  the  evil  day.'  It  has 
nobly  discharged  its  work  ;  it  has  kept  its  post,  and  will,  though 
with  difficulty,  keep  it  till  the  great  reserve,  long  promised  and 
always  expected,  shall  arrive.  It  was  no  derogation  to  the  old 
economy  to  say  it  yielded  to  the  '  New  Shekinah' — it  had  accom- 


302  CONCLUSION. 

plished  its  task  in  keeping  the  fire  burning,  although  burning  low, 
till  the  day-spring  appeared ;  nor  is  it  a  derogation  to  the  New- 
Testament  to  say,  that  it  has  earned,  like  a  torch  in  the  wind,  a 
hope  two  thousand  years  old,  till  now  it  seems  about  to  he  lost  in 
the  light  of  a  hrighter  dispensation." 

"  And  while  the  hope  is  to  be  lost  in  its  fruition,  what  shall  be 
the  fate  of  the  volume  Avhich  so  long  sustained  it  ? '  What  has 
been  the  fate  of  the  Old  Testament  ?  Has  it  not  retamed  its 
reverence  and  power?  Is  it  noi,  every  day  mcreasing  in  clear- 
ness ?  Has  not  the  New  Testament  reflected  much  of  its  own 
radiance  upon  it  ?  Do  they  not  lie  loving  and  side  by  side  in  the 
same  volume  ?  And  why  should  not  the  New  Book  of  the  Laws 
and  Revelations  of  the  Prince  of  the  Kings  of  the  Earth  (if  such 
a  book  there  were)  form  a  third,  and  complete  the  threefold 
cord  which  is  not  easily  broken  ?"* 

We  have  been  induced  to  give  the  above  citations,  lengthy  as 
they  are,  from  the  fact  that  they  exhibit  the  workings  of  a  mind 
which  is  the  representative  of  many ;  and  it  can  be  seen  that  this 
able  writer,  so  far  from  attempting  to  show  there  is  not  a  neces- 
sity for  a  new  revelation,  boldly  comes  out  in  its  defence.  He 
sees  that  though  it  is  indeed  true  that  there  is  still  a  Simeon,  an 
Anna,  a  Joseph,  and  a  Mary  watching  the  expiring  fire  of  the  altar, 
yet  others,  the  educated,  are  fast  forsaking  it.  Not  buoyed  up 
by  the  vain  hope  that  the  Church  in  its  present  creeping  and 
crippled  state  can  produce  the  Millennial  Age,  he  sees  that  with- 
out an  intervention  all  is  lost.  Allowing  his  mind  to  proceed  un- 
trammelled, he  naturally  draws  the  inference  that  new  truths  will 
take  the  place  of  the  old,  and  sees  no  reason  why  the  New  Book 
of  the  Laws  and  Revelations  of  the  Prince  of  the  Kings  of  the 
Earth  (if  such  a  book  there  were)  should  not  form  a  third,  "  the 
threefold  cord  ivhich  is  not  easily  broken,"  and  lie  harmoniously 
with  the  Old  and  New  Testament ! ! 

But  it  is  vain  and  idle  to  suppose  that  by  argument  alone,  by 
the  publishing  of  volumes  and  tracts  exhibiting  the  difference 
and  superiority  of  the  "  New  Book"  or  covenant,  the  glad  tidings 
can  be  disseminated.  This  cannot  be.  The  time  has  gone  by. 
So  many  theological  and  controversial  works  have  been  written 

*  See  Bards  of  the  Bible,  pp.  344-346,  by  George  Gilfillan. 


TKUE   TEST   OF   THE    NEW    CHURCH.  303 

claiming  the  pre-eminence,  that  the  public  are  without  a  guide, 
know  not  what  to  believe,  and  are  wearied  with  the  subject.  It 
is  in  a  different  manner  that  the  New  Dispensation  is  to  gain  a 
footing.  It  is  by  its  receivers  organizing  themselves  into  little 
societies  in  different  parts  of  the  land,  particularly  in  the  villages 
and  country  towns ;  and  here  by  example,  by  practising  what  is 
preached,  their  character  is  to  be  exhibited  and  claims  tested. 

Such  a  course  as  this — the  maintaining  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  teaching  that  man  is  free,  that  he  is  the  author  of 
his  own  unhappiness,  that  the  world  is  governed  by  fixed  laws, 
that  they  must  be  obeyed,  that  diseases,  mental  and  physical,  are 
entailed  upon  the  offspring,  that  by  happ}^  marriages  the  world 
is  to  be  regenerated — is  the  only  manner  in  which  any  thing  ef- 
fectual can  be  accomplished,  and  the  way  prepared  for  a  better 
day.  And  when  it  is  seen  that  the  professing  members  of  the 
"  despised  sect"  present  a  marked  contrast  to  others,  and  are  good 
citizens,  men  of  integrity,  those  who  exhibit  in  the  daily  affairs  of 
life  nothing  of  the  fanatic,  and  receive  accessions  to  their  numbers, 
not  fi-om  the  illiterate,  but  from  the  wealthy,  the  refined,  and  edu- 
cated, those  who  hold  the  most  responsible  offices,  then  will  com- 
ments be  made  and  inferences  drawn,  and  then  will  false  accusa- 
tions and  perversions  recoil  upon  those  who  have  circulated  them 
— then  will  the  cause  progress,  and  the  conviction  arise  that  the 
New  Churchman  has  not  altogether  been  deluded  or  governed  by 
sectarianism,  and  that  so  strange,  so  unaccountable  an  event  as  a 
New  Book,  a  New  Apocalj'pse,  may  indeed  have  been  given. 

One  of  the  marked  peculiarities  of  the  New  Covenant  is,  that 
it  exhibits  the  attributes  of  the  Deity  as  they  are,  and  without 
a  veil.  In  former  periods,  and  when  the  "theology  of  the  feel- 
ings," or  apparent  truths,  were  mistaken  for  real,  it  was  taught 
that  he  was  a  being  of  wrath  and  venfjeance.  But  now  the  great 
truth  which  even  in  the  New  Testament  is  but  faintly  shadowed, 
appears  in  all  its  brightness  and  splendor,  and  it  is  evinced  that 
no  human  mind  can  imagine  or  conceive  the  love  which  the  uni- 
versal Father  has  for  mankind.  No  longer  using  dark  and  enig- 
matical words,  no  longer  asserting  that  it  is  possible  for  the  world 
to  be  regenerated  in  a  day,  he  appears,  and  using  the  language 
of  affection,  plainly  says,  "  Come,  let  us  reason  together.  Judge, 
I  pray  you,  between  me  and  my  vineyard  :   what  could  I  have 


304  CONCLUSION. 

done  to  my  vineyard  that  I  have  not  done?"  Considering  man 
now  as  a  calm  rational  being,  one  who  is  aware  that  liis  freedom 
cannot  be  destroyed,  that  he  must  help  himself  if  heaven  is  to  aid, 
he  is  informed  concerning  former  mysteries  and  of  the  great  plan 
by  which  the  earth  is  to  be  civilized  and  emancipated.  Going 
further  than  ever  before,  it  is  stated  that  the  life  of  the  Christian 
religion  and  New  Dispensation  is  charity  to  others,  and  that  it  is 
willing  all  should  take  that  path  which  it  is  believed  will  best  lead 
to  heaven.  And  so  far  from  ^vishlng  its  followei-s  to  forget  them- 
selves, and  imbrue  their  hands  in  a  brother's  blood,  because  he 
differs  in  regard  to  the  Trinity,  it  is  asserted  there  is  no  elect,  no 
chosen  people,  except  those  Avho  obey  heaven's  laws ;  that  even 
the  possession  of  exalted  truth  does  not,  without  works,  make  its 
possessor  better  than  others,  and  that  those  who  in  reality  form. 
Christ's  Church,  the  Church  of  God,  are  to  be  found  in  all  de- 
nominations and  sects,  and  even  among  the  heathen. 

Being  fully  aware  that  the  new  truths  must  be  received  in  free- 
dom and  without  the  aid  of  excitement,  it  informs  its  receivers 
that  they  must  never  be  presented,  except  on  fit  occasions,  and 
when  without  injury  they  can  be  examined.  It  being  seen  that 
in  this  manner  alone,  by  the  exercise  of  private  judgment,  by  its 
members  rationally  understanding  their  confession  of  faith,  a 
Church  can  be  fovmded  which  shall  be  different  from  others,  and 
one  that  is  not  ready  to  fall  as  the  winds  and  waves  of  false  doc- 
trines beat  against  it,  but  wUl  stand  for  asfes  on  affes. 

We  close,  resting  firm  in  the  belief  that  the  truths  of  the  New 
Covenant  are  destined  to  prevail ;  and,  indeed,  in  regard  to  this  the 
New  Churchman  has  so  steadfast  and  unwaverinor  a  faith,  that  it 
IS  to  be  feared  he  does  not  exert  himself  as  he  should,  and  is  too 
much  inchned  to  let  the  doctrines  care  for  themselves.  Yet  he 
has  reason  ;  for  the  truths  are  of  that  nature,  and  in  themselves  so 
powerful,  that  almost  unaided  they  would  make  their  way.  And 
it  is  seen  that  all  the  new  discoveries,  "  the  deductions  of  theology, 
physiology,  archeeology,  geology,  and  astronomy,  look  Sweden- 
horg-ward,"  and  tend  to  confirm  the  truth  that  a  New  Apocalypse 
has  been  given,  a  revelation  of  truth  which  we,  an  unworthy  re- 
ceiver, know  is  so  clear,  so  bright,  that  it  dispels  all  doubts,  brings 
relief  to  the  mind  which  has  been  weighed  down  with  melancholy, 
heals  the  sick,  the  lame,  the  halt,  and  blind,  and  causes  its  ad- 


CONCLUSION.  305 

herents  to  turn  with  gratitude  unspeakable  to  the  Giver  of  every 
good  gift ;  and  is  to  go  on,  regardless  of  its  opponents,  until  it 
has  accomplished  its  mission,  and  ushered  in  the  day  so  lono-  fore- 
told and  sung,  and  of  which  is  now  seen  only  the  harbinger  and 
radiant  dawn. 


'  Come,  thou  pure  love  (and  truth)  which  once  in  Eden  glowed . 
Dispel  the  mists  that  o'er  man's  vision  glide, 
The  tranquil  joys  of  purer  scenes  to  hide  ; 
Chase  the  dark  passions  from  their  latent  cell, 
Bid  peace  return  again  on  earth  to  dwell ; 
Teach  men  how  others  live  in  realms  above, 
And  fill  our  hearts  with  universal  love : 
Then  hallowed  fire  shall  to  each  soul  be  given. 
And  earth  shall  be  no  more,  because  'tis  heaven !" 

20 


APPENDIX   A. 


DAVIS     REVELATIONS 

If  there  is  any  thing  which  exhibits  the  necessity  of  an  expla- 
nation of  Scripture  mysteries,  it  is  the  fact  that  such  a  volume  as 
the  so-called  "  Nature's  Divine  Revelations"  has  been  put  in  cir- 
culation. In  this  case  a  book  has  been  written  which,  consider- 
mg  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  produced,  must  be  ad- 
mitted to  be  one  of  the  phenomena  of  the  age  ;  it  being  the  same 
as  if  an  ignorant  boy,  one  whom  the  reader  knew  had  received 
no  advantages  of  literature  or  science,  should  propose  to  deliver  a 
course  of  lectures  embracing  every  known  subject.  Such  a  pro- 
posal, if  made,  would  be  considered  as  unworthy  of  the  least 
attention,  and  as  an  impossibility ;  it  being  well  known  that  to 
deliver  such  a  course,  or  even  to  attempt  it,  would  not  only  re- 
quire a  practised  and  logical  thinker,  but  one  of  vast  erudition, 
and  who  had  access  to  extensive  libraries.  Yet  in  the  case  of 
Davis  all  this  marvel  was  exhibited ;  for  he  was  but  a  few  years 
ago  hving  at  Poughkeepsie,  a  shoemaker's  ap*prentice,  and  one 
whose  reading  was  confined  to  such  works  as  "  Robinson  Crusoe" 
and  the  "  Three  Spaniards."  At  this  time  a  mesmerizer  travelhng 
through  the  place,  by  accident,  found  that  he  was  a  good  sub- 
ject, and  in  a  remarkable  degree  susceptible.  He  was  prevailed 
on  to  go  to  NcAv  York,  and  without  any  prepai-ation  or  study, 
gave,  blindfolded,  a  course  of  lectures  to  large  audiences,  and  in 
which  all  the  different  branches  of  science  were  treated.  Profes- 
sor Bush  savs :  "I  can  most  solemnlv  affirm  that  I  have  heard 


DAVIS     REVELATIONS.  307 

him  correctl)'  quote  the  Hebrew  language  in  his  lectures,  and  dis- 
play a  knowledge  of  Geology  Avhich  would  have  been  astonishing 
in  a  pereon  of  his  age,  even  if  he  had  devoted  years  to  the  study. 
Yet  to  neither  of  these  departments  has  he  ever  devoted  a  day's 
application  in  his  life.  I  can  moreover  testify  that  in  these  lec- 
tures he  has  discussed  with  the  most  signal  ability  the  profound- 
est  questions  of  Historical  and  Biblical  Archteology,  of  Mythol- 
ogy, of  the  origin  and  affinities  of  Language,  of  the  progress  of 
civilization  among  the  dift'erent  nations  of  the  globe,  besides  an 
immense  variety  of  related  topics,  on  all  which,  though  the  style 
is  somewhat  faulty,  the  results  announced  would  do  honor  to  any 
scholar  of  the  age,  even  if  in  reaching  them  he  had  the  advantage 
of  access  to  all  the  libraries  in  Christendom."  He  adds  :  "  Yet 
not  a  single  volume  on  any  of  these  subjects,  or  a  page  of  a 
volume,  has  he  e\'er  read,  nor,  however  intimate  his  friends  may 
be  with  him,  will  one  of  them  testify  that  during  the  last  two 
years  he  has  ever  seen  a  book  of  science,  or  history,  or  literature, 
in  his  hands."* 

If  the  circumstances  in  respect  to  Davis  had  occurred  at  a  dis- 
tant period,  then  might  they  ha\'e  been  doubted ;  but  this  is 
not  the  case,  as  they  happened,  as  it  were,  but  yesterday,  and  in 
a  city  where,  if  any'  fraud  had  been  practised,  it  could  not  have 
failed  to  have  been  detected  ;  for  not  only  did  the  various  inci- 
dents have  to  bear  the  rigid  scrutiny  of  its  bitter  opposers,  but  at 
the  same  time  the  potent  agency  of  money  was  invoked,  and  a 
reward  of  five  hundred  dollars  was  offered  to  detect,  if  possible, 
the  so-called  imposition.  Though  six  months  were  allowed  for 
this  purpose,  yet  it  was  in  vain ;  the  proof  Avas  wanting,  and  to 
this  day  the  facts  of  the  case  remain  incontrovertible. 

We  consider  the  book  destined  to  exercise  a  great  influence 
both  for  good  and  evil.  It  will  result  in  the  latter,  as  doubtless 
many,  allowing  themselves  to  be  blinded  by  its  sophistry,  will 
receive  it  in  the  place  of  the  Bible.  But  the  opposite  influence 
which  it  Avill  exert,  will,  we  think,  counterbalance  the  evil ;  for  it 
Avill,  and  has  already  acted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  show  to  the 
skeptic  that  there  is  a  spiritual  world  and  life  beyond  the  grave. 
Before  Davis  appeared  there  were  many  learned  materialists  who 

*  Mesmer  and  Swedenborg,  p.  215. 


308  APPENDIX. 

were  extremely  doubtful  whether  there  was  another  existence. 
But  when  they  saw  a  subject  of  their  own,  an  unsophisticated 
youth,  arise  and  address  an  audience  on  subjects  which  they 
knew  in  his  natural  state  he  was  totally  xuiacquainted  with,  then 
was  their  skepticism  shaken,  and  the  belief  adopted  that  there 
was  before  them  an  individual  who  Avas  assisted  m  liis  discourses 
by  other  than  natural  means. 

Da\is'  Revelations  are  to  exercise  a  beneficial  influence,  because 
they  illustrate  by  analogy  the  manner  in  which  the  Holy  Oracles 
were  composed ;  and  now  it  can  oe  seen  that  the  majority  of  the 
prophets,  when  they  gave  to  the  woi-ld  their  prophecies,  were  at 
the  time  as  ignorant  of  their  true  meaning  as  Davis  was  of  his 
assertions ;  they  being,  on  such  occasions,  but  the  passive  medi- 
ums or  instruments  of  the  Divine  Providence.  This  view  is  cor- 
roborated by  the  Scriptures,  and  we  are  repeatedly  told  that 
God  spake  by  this  and  that  prophet.  Thus  in  Ezekiel  in  various 
places  it  is  said,  that  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  hinri,  say- 
ing ;"  and  in  Isaiah  many  chapters  can  be  found  commencing 
with  the  expression,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord."  In  John  we  are  in 
the  most  particvilar  manner  informed,  that  "  The  prophecy  came 
not  in  the  old  time  by  the  will  of  man,  but  holy  men  of  God 
spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  That  the 
prophets  were  ignorant  of  the  tnie  signification  of  their  prophe- 
cies, is  evinced,  as  we  have  before  shown,  by  the  fact  that  they 
entirely  mistook  the  most  important  one,  or  that  which  has  refer- 
ence to  the  first  advent  of  om-  Saviour,  and  believed  and  taught 
that  lie  was  to  come  as  a  miglity  tempoi'al*prince. 

The  great  difference  (and  there  is  a  vast  one)  between  the  seer 
of  Poughkeepsie  and  the  prophets  of  old,  is  not  that  the  mode  of 
communication  was  diflferent,  but  that  one  was  acted  upon  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  other  was  the  mouth-piece  and  subject 
of  evil  spirits.  The  expression,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  would  be- 
come, if  applied  to  Davis,  "  Thus  saith  evil  spirits ;"  implying 
that  his  prophecies  and  revelations  came  not  of  his  own  will,  but 
as  he  was  moved  and  acted  upon  by  evil  mfluences  from  the  hid- 
den world. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  if  Davis'  Revelations  are  bona  fide 
communications  from  the  spiritual  world,  then  why  should  they 
not  be  received  and  stand  on  the  same  footing  as  Swedenborg's  ? 


DAVIS     REVELATIONS.  309 

But  to  this  we  reply,  there  is  a  vast  difference  in  their  disclosures. 
Swedenborg  asserts  that  the  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  of 
inestimable  value.  Davis,  on  the  other  hand,  attempts  to  over- 
throw it,  and  class  it  with  uninspired  volumes,  and  as  similar  to 
the  Koran  or  Shaster.  Swedenborg  teaches  that  there  is  a  judg- 
ment to  come.  Da\as  directly  denies  this  fundamental  belief, 
and  affirms  that  all  at  death,  without  exception,  enter  the  king- 
dom of  heaven ;  hell,  devil,  and  Satan  being,  according  to  him, 
"  a  mere  poetical  mythos."  The  Swedish  psychologist  devotes 
his  powers  to  show  that  man  is  free,  and  above  all  confirms  the 
divinity  of  Christ.  But  on  these  points  Davis  is  wanting ;  for 
not  only  does  he  assert  that  man  is  not  responsible,  but  at  the 
same  time  informs  the  reader,  that  the  a\ithor  of  the  Christian 
rehgion  was  but  a  mere  man,  and  that  "  all  of  those  representa- 
tions which  assert  otherwise  are  entirely  fallacious." 

Davis'  work  is  the  more  pernicious,  as  it  takes  similar  grounds 
in  regard  to  creation  as  are  taken  by  the  author  of  the  "  Vestiges 
of  Creation,"  and  is  evidently  dictated  by  the  same  class  of  spir- 
its ;  the  chief  difference  being  that  the  English  skeptic  is  more 
guarded  in  his  assertions.  There  are  those  who  refuse  to  bestow 
the  slightest  attention  upon  the  work,  and  who  consider  it  as 
mere  rhapsody ;  but  as  far  as  we  are  capable  of  judging,  taken 
as  a  whole,  and  considering  the  plausible  manner  in  which  it  is 
written,  and  the  source  from  whence  it  sprung,  there  never  was 
a  book  put  in  circulation  which  was  so  well  calculated  to  mis- 
lead, as  the  so-called  "  Nature's  Divine  Revelations ;"  and  to  it 
we  tliink  is  particularly  applicable  that  passage  of  the  Scriptures 
in  which  it  is  said,  that  "  in  the  latter  days  false  prophets  shall 
rise,  and  shall  show  signs  and  wonders,  to  seduce  if  it  were  possi- 
ble the  elect."  But  we  trust  there  Avill  rise  those  who,  instead 
of  attempting  to  ridicule  the  book,  or  deny  its  supernatural  ori- 
gin, will  give  it  an  examination — separate  the  wheat  from  the 
chaff,  and  exhibit  its  sophistries  and  contradictions.  A  review  of 
this  nature,*  not  a  mere  pamphlet,  would  exercise  an  excellent 

*  The  London  Athenaeum,  in  the  course  of  a  very  long  and  elaborate  re- 
view of  Davis'  Revelations,  contains  the  following' : 

"  Time  will  roll  on,  and  the  Eevelations  of  Andrew  Jackson  Davis  will  be 
put  on  their  proper  shelf,  in  that  curious  museum  which  men  call  human 
nature.      One   man,  we  foresee,  will  be  treated  with  injustice — we  mean 


310  APPENDIX. 

influence,  arrest  the  e^^l,  and  afford  timely  aid  to  those  -who, 
abandoning  the  Scriptm-es,  have  ah-eady  allowed  themselves  to 
be  blinded  by  its  fallacies ;  and  we  need  not  say  that  to  the  New 
Chm-chman  alone  belongs  this  task ;  for  to  others,  the  theologian 
and  naturalist  of  the  Old  Church,  the  volume  is  altogether  an 
unfathomable  mysteiy.  It  is  to  be  shown  that  revelations  are 
not  necessarily  true  because  proved  to  be  of  a  supernatural  ori- 
gin ;  for  it  is  probable  that  false  views  in  regard  to  this  part  of 
the  subject  are  the  most  dangero.ijs  of  all,  and  w^ith  many  if  it  is 
once  demonstrated  that  the  book  is  a  bona  fide  spiritual  commu- 
nication, then  is  drawn  the  inference  that  it  must  be  received  as 
truth.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  as  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that 
more  of  the  same  disclosures  will  be  made,  that  the  subject  wiU 
be  generally  understood,  and  a  communication  dictated  by  those 
in  the  spiritual  world  will  receive  no  more  attention  than  a  vol- 
ume or  disclosure  written  in  this  world.  If  new  revelations  were 
tested  in  this  manner,  or  by  reason  and  the  Scriptures,  then  the 
peculiar  manner  in  which  they  make  theh  appearance  will  have 
little  or  no  Aveight. 

No  small  proof  of  Swedenborg's  claims  is  the  fact  that  such  a 
person  as  DaA-is  has  arisen ;  for  history  informs  us  that  when  a 
new  dispensation  has  been  given,  a  counter  one  of  evil  has  ap- 
peared. Thus  when  Moses  wrought  miracles  before  Pharaoh, 
counter  miracles  were  wi'ought  by  the  magi.  When  Christ 
cast  out  devils  from  the  possessed,  similar  claims  to  mu-aculous 
power  were  asserted  to  exist  among  the  Pharisees.  When 
Christ  assumed  the  character  of  King  of  the  Jews,  rival  preten- 


Emaniiel  Swedenborg.  Davis  and  he  will  be  classed  together.  Against 
this  wc  protest.  We  have  read  enough  of  Swedenborg  to  justify  us  to  our- 
selves in  declaring  that  tee  would  rather  believe  hi^  supernatural  communica- 
tions upon  his  own  word,  than  Bains'  upon  any  possibly  attainable  amount  of 
evidence.'^'' 

The  verdict  of  the  reviewer  in  regard  to  the  work  is  unfavorable  ;  but  we 
find  in  one  of  the  paragraphs  the  following  remark : 

"  Let  our  readers  distinctly  understand  that  we  do  not,  on  any  supposi- 
tion, regard  this  book  (Davis'  work)  and  the  proceedings  attending  it,  as 
commonplace,  or  easily  explained.  Be  it  fraud,  delusion,  or  mixtures — be 
it  mesmerism,  or  newly  in  vented,  communication  with  the  spiritual  world, 
or  downright  revelation— be  it  any  one  of  these,  or  any  thing  else,  it  is  very 
curious.  As  soon  as  the  right  name  is  found  for  it,  we  will  be  the  first  to 
call  it,  of  that  name,  extraordinary — very  extraordinary." 


DAVIS     KEVELATIONS.  311 

sions  were  made  by  others.  "  Before  these  days  rose  up  Theii- 
das,  boasting  himself  to  be  somebody,  to  whom  a  mimber  of  men, 
about  four  hundred,  joined  themselves,  who  was  slain ;  and  all, 
as  many  as  obeyed  him,  were  scattered  and  brought  to  naught. 
After  this  man  rose  up  Judas  of  Galilee,  in  the  days  of  the  tax- 
ing, and  drew  away  much  people  after  him  :  he  also  perished,  and 
all,  as  many  as  obeyed  him,  were  dispersed." — Acts  v.  36.  At 
the  second  coming  of  Christ  into  the  world,  we  are  told,  it  shall 
be  the  same,  and  that  there  shall  arise  false  Christs  and  false 
prophets.  Thus,  as  remarked,  at  the  end  of  the  old  and  the  be- 
ginning of  new  dispensations,  arise  false  and  true  prophets  in 
every  direction ;  whence  pretensions  of  both  kinds  become  so 
mixed  up  with  the  other,  that  unless  possessed  of  a  clear  spiritual 
discei-nment,  a  person  runs  the  risk  of  receiving  the  false  as  the 
true,  or  the  ti-ue  as  the  false,  or  of  rejecting  indiscriminately  both 
together. 

We  close  our  obsen-ations  by  an  extract  from  the  "  New  Jeru- 
salem Magazine,"  for  January,  1847.  The  article  is  from  the 
pen  of  Theophilus  Parsons,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  and  clearlj^  ex- 
hibits the  difference  between  the  disclosures  of  Swedenborg  and 
those  which  have  been  presented  by  Davis  and  other  mesmeric 
clairvoyants. 

"  Now  let  us  compare  this  case  with  that  of  Swedenborg.  We 
perceive  at  once  this  important  point  of  difference.  Mr.  Davis' 
normal,  or  natural,  or  common  state,  has  no  apparent  connection 
whatever  with  his  clairvoyant  state.  Doubtless  there  is  a  connec- 
tion which  we  cannot  perceive,  between  the  peculiarities  of  his 
constitution — physical,  intellectual,  or  moral — and  this  extraordi- 
nary clairvoyance.  But  it  is  certain  that  neither  the  amount  nor 
the  character  of  his  knowledge  while  clairvoyant,  have  any  per- 
ceptible relation  whatever  with  the  amoimt  or  character  of  his 
knowledge  in  the  natural  state.  These  two  things  do  not  difi'er 
in  degrees  ;  that  is,  Davis  does  not  know  a  little  of  cosmogony 
and  philosophy,  and  think  a  httle  about  them  in  his  natural  state, 
and  then  know  and  think  a  vast  deal  more  on  the  same  subjects 
Avhile  clairvoyant ;  but  in  this  last  state  he  has  a  marvellous  quan- 
tity of  knowledge  on  topics  whereon  in  his  natural  state  he  has 
never  in  his  life  known  or  thought  any  one  thing  great  or  small. 

"  In  the  next  place,  it  does  not  at  all  appear  that  Davis'  fit- 
ness or  capabihty  for  this  clairvoyance,  or  for  the  learning  he 


312  APPENDIX. 

there  acquires  or  utters,  is  the  result  of  any  intellectual  training. 
He  has  never  been  a  student,  never  a  practised  and  logical 
thinker ;  and  has  never  acquired,  by  careful  discipline  and  sus- 
tained endeavor,  the  power  of  profound  and  coherent  meditation. 
It  is  not  by  reason  of  these  things,  or  of  any  of  them,  in  any  de- 
gree, that  he  is  able  to  learn  and  tell  in  a  state  of  clairvoyance 
the  wonders  of  cosmogony,  or  of  any  branches  of  science  or  phi- 
losophy. 

"  The  next  thing  to  observe  (and  it  is  one  of  great  importance) 
is,  that  Davis,  i/i  his  natural  state,  knows  nothing  whatever  of  his 
mao-netical  state.  They  who  looked  on  and  saw  can  tell  him 
what  was  done  to  him  and  what  he  did  ;  they  who  listened  and 
took  notes  can  repeat  to  him  what  he  said ;  but  of  all  this  be 
knows  nothing  himself ;  absolutely  nothing  more  than  if  the  Davis 
of  the  one  state  and  the  Davis  of  the  other  were  two  persons, 
living  in  distant  countries,  without  any  intercourse  with,  or  any 
knowledge  of,  each  othei-.  And  when  they  who  heard  him 
repeat  to  him  what  he  has  said,  they  repeat  it  for  the  most  part 
in  vain,  for  he  can  comprehend  it  but  veiy  imperfectly ;  his  own 
reason  has  not  the  preparation  nor  the  power  required  to  ascend 
to  this  lofty  elevation.  Thus  it  is  with  Mr.  Davis  ;  and  all  of  this 
is  in  accordance  with  the  usual  phenomena  of  mesmeric  clairvoy- 
ance, of  which  Mr.  Da\-is  may  well  be  regarded  as  a  type. 

"And  now  how  is  it  with  Swedenborg?  In  the  first  place,  he 
was  prepared  for  his  illumination  not  only  by  a  thoroughly  moral 
and  religious  character,  but  by  very  many  years  most  diligently 
and  most  successfully  devoted  to  the  acquisition  of  a  vast  fund  of 
knowledge.  And  this  learning,  immense  in  its  extent,  and  em- 
bracing most  of  the  branches  of  science,  was  nevertheless  closely 
and  definitely  related  to  the  higher  learning  which  he  afterwards 
acquu'ed.  It  in  fact  became  the  fovmdation  of  his  spiritual  knowl- 
edge, and  sened  him  in  comprehending  spiritual  truths  in  all 
their  relations,  and  in  illustrating  them  for  the  minds  of  others. 
In  the  next  place,  he  was  prepared  for  his  illumination  by  a  long 
and  careful  intellectual  discipline.  Naturally  a  close  and  stead- 
fast thiiiker,  he  became  by  study  one  of  the  first  mathematicians 
in  the  world ;  and  the  etfect  of  this  exact  and  rigorous  science 
was  to  give  clearness,  precision,  and  accm-acv  to  his  reasoning 
powers.  And  all  this  was  for  the  end  that  he  might  use  these 
powers  in  miderstanding  spiritual  tmth  when  it  should  be  opened 
for  him.  It  was  designed  for  this  end,  and  it  had  this  eft'ect. 
His  eyes  were  opened,  and  he  saw  things  of  the  spiritual  world ; 
his  ears  were  opened,  and  he  heard  its  wisdom  ;  and  because  of 
the  thorough  preparation  of  his  wonderful  mind,  he  understood 


DAVIS     REVELATIOJSTsS.  313 

what  he  saw,  and  drew  just  inferences  from  the  phenomena 
around  him,  and  grew  in  the  wisdom  of  heaven  while  yet  an  in- 
habitant of  earth.  Lastly,  and  most  importantly,  between  the 
state  of  Swedenborg  when  under  illumination,  and  his  normal,  nat- 
ural, or  common  condition,  there  was  no  separation,  no  disunion, 
no  impassable  abyss.  What  he  saw  or  learnt  while  under  spiritual 
illumination,  made  him  wiser  in  his  natural  condition.  It  was  for 
the  purpose  of  becoming  wiser  in  his  natural  condition,  that  his 
eyes  were  opened,  and  his  preternatural  condition  induced ;  be- 
cause it  was  in  and  through  his  natural  and  normal  faculties,  and 
by  his  own  laborious  exertion  of  these  faculties,  that  the  effect  of 
his  own  growth  in  knowledge  and  wisdom  was  to  be  produced 
upon  the  world. 

"  But  Swedenborg  and  Davis  agree  in  this,  that  their  knowl- 
edge  comes  to  them  in  wavs  which  are  not  the  common  ways  of 
human  nature.  Just  so  far  as  this  goes,  there  is  an  analogy  be- 
tween them ;  but  here  is  its  precise  limit ;  for  if  we  go  a  step 
further ;  if  we  look  to  see  whether  the  waj^s  are  the  same  or 
similar  in  the  two  men,  we  shall  find,  instead  of  resemblance 
or  analogy  between  them,  the  marks  of  difference,  of  contrast, 
of  opposition.  And  this  contrast  we  should  express  or  describe 
as  follows  : 

"  All  men  receive*  all  of  life  from  the  Lord,  by  the  medium  of 
the  spiritual  world.  It  is  of  the  extremest  importance  that  we 
should  know  this,  and  remember  it.  Consequently,  nothing  is 
more  fi-equently,  and  more  emphatically  asserted  in  the  works  of 
Swedenborg.  He  who  thinks  a  just  thought,  who  knows  that  he 
has  learnt  some  new  trath,  who  is  conscious  that  he  has  a  good 
and  pure  affection,  who  has  the  right  of  believing  that  he  has 
done  one  good  thing — all  this  good  and  truth,  and  all  that  is  good 
and  true  in  or  about  him,  he  should  refer  to  the  Lord  as  to  the 
only  source  of  all  that  is  good  and  true,  acknowledging  that  he 
himself  is  only  a  recipient  of  life  from  him  Avho  is  life  itself.  But 
this  truth  does  not  stand  alone ;  nor  is  it  the  office  of  this  truth 
to  take  from  us  freedom  or  responsibility,  or  plunge  us  into  the 
torpor  of  fatality.  For  in  connection  with  this  truth,  and  always 
conjoined  with  it,  is  another  which  tells  us  that  we  have  always 
the  power,  and  always  the  duty,  to  be,  to  feel,  and  to  act  as  of 
ourselt'es.  Swedenborg  sayg  of  this,  in  one  of  his  relations,  '  Man 
can,  as  of  himself,  reform  and  regenerate  himself,  provided  he  in 
heart  acknowledge  that  it  is  from  the  Lord.  Every  one  who  per- 
forms actual  repentance,  and  believes  in  the  Lord,  is  reformed 
and  regenerated ;  man  is  to  do  both  as  of  himself,  but  the  as  of 
HIMSELF  is  fi'om  the  Lord This  is  the  only  reciprocal  of 


314  APPENDIX. 

love  and  faith,  which  the  Lord  absolutely  wills  to  be  done  to  him 
by  man.'— T.  C.  R.,  621. 

"  While  it  is  true  that  whatever  we  have  is  the  gift  of  the 
Lord,  it  is  also  true  that  among  these  gifts  is  our  own  indi^^dual 
personality,  is  freedom,  is  rationality,  and  the  conscious  possession 
of  these  things.  It  is  through  these  things,  through  the  conscious 
possession  of  them,  and  through  tlie  free  and  voluntary  use  and 
employment  of  them,  that  we  may  be  taught,  improved,  regener- 
ated, saved.  Such  is  the  law  of  human  life ;  and  as  far  as  we 
have  any  evidence  whatever,  the  case  of  Swedenborg  was  no  ex- 
ception, but  an  instance  of  the  most  complete  conformity;  we 
have  no  reason  to  believe  that  there  ever  lived  a  person  in  regard 
to  whom  this  law  existed  m  fuller  force,  or  with  greater  effect. 
Never  was  there  a  man  further  from  the  state  of  one  who  is  the 
blind  and  involuntary  instmment  of  othere.  It  was  for  the  pur- 
poses of  Providence  that  Swedenborg  became  wise  beyond  othei-s, 
that  he  might  teach  the  grounds  and  means  of  this  wisdom,  and 
thus  open  the  way  for  the  progress  of  mankind  in  new  directions. 
For  this  purpose  he  was,  in  the  first  place,  thoroughl}^  educated 
as  a  youth ;  next,  employed  and  practised  as  a  man  in  the  func- 
tions and  studies  adapted  to  invigorate  and  discipline  his  remark- 
able powers ;  and  lastly,  permitted  to  see  in  the  various  regions 
of  the  spiritual  w^orld,  things  which  became  to  him  food  for  deeper 
thought,  and  tlie  means  of  higher  wisdom.  But  they  thus  nour- 
ished his  undeistanding,  and  gave  him  wisdom,  for  the  veiy  reason 
that  he  had  been  thvis  peculiarly  and  thoroughly  prepared  to  see, 
and  hear,  and  know  these  things  profitably.  And  while  his 
senses  were  so  opened,  and  he  was  employed  in  gathering  the  gifts 
so  vouchsafed  to  him,  he  was  never  any  less  in  the  exercise  of 
his  own  rationality,  never  less  free,  less  himself,  than  when  he 
Avas  a  youth  at  college,  or  the  great  engineer  and  practical  mathe- 
matician of  his  sovereign,  Charles  XII.  In  a  few  words,  and  to 
use  an  important  distinction,  made  by  Swedenborg  himself  in  an- 
other relation,  it  is  not  accurate  to  say  that  the  wisdom  of  the 
heavens  came  through  Swedenborg  to  the  earth  ;  but  that  it  came 
first  to  Swedenborg,  and  being  possessed  by  him,  came  {oYi\\from 
him,  b}'  his  own  act,  done  as  of  himself . 

"  We  suppose  nothing  of  this  kind,  and  nothing  at  all  Uke  it,  is 
true  in  the  case  of  Davis  or  of  any  mesmeric  clairvoyant.  There, 
the  rationahty  of  the  indiAidual  is  silenced,  superseded,  suppressed ; 
or,  it  is  occupied  and  used  by  othere ;  his  freedom  is  annihilated. 
In  some  cases,  the  hands  and  hmbs  move  in  obedience  to  the  will 
of  another,  and  the  tongue  tastes,  the  eyes  see,  the  ears  hear,  and 
the  nose  smells,  as  if  the  soul  of  that  other  was  within  them  ;  and 


DAVIs'   REVELATIONS.  315 

in  other  cases,  the  subject  is  invigorated  Avith  a  life  not  his  own, 
his  eye  brightens,  and  his  lips  pour  forth  the  knowledge  and 
thoughts  of  other  minds,  while  the  subject  himself  has  no  more 
to  do  with  all  this  than  the  air  whose  undulations  make  the 
soimds  he  utters — no  more  than  if  he  were  dead,  and  it  were 
possible  to  reanimate  his  corpse,  and  make  it  vocal  by  galvanism 
or  magic.  After  a  while  this  possession  passes  away.  The  sub- 
ject returns  to  his  normal  state ;  he  is  no  longer  a  subject  in  any 
sense,  but  free ;  no  longer  another,  but  hin>self.  And  then  how 
is  it  ?  Every  man  who  heard  him  speak,  has  somewhat  of  what 
he  said  when  mesmerized ;  the  sense,  if  it  were  comprehensible, 
or  the  sound  of  the  words  at  all  events  in  his  memory ;  but  the 
subject,  or  he  who  was  the  subject  and  then  poured  forth  this 
utterance,  has  of  it  all  now,  noAV  that  he  is  himself,  nothing. 
What  else,  then,  can  we  conclude,  than  that  the  state  of  Sweden- 
borg  is  as  opposite  to  the  state  of  a  clairvoyant,  as  earnest  of  a 
high  rationality  is  opposite  to  its  inaction,  as  ■  being  one's  own  is 
opposite  to  being  another's ;  as  freedom  itself  is  opposite  to  the 
absolute  control  of  another ;  as  the  full  and  rejoicing  exercise  of 
all  that  constitutes  the  free,  rational,  conscious  individual,  is  oppo- 
site to  its  sleep,  suspension,  or  suppression  ? 

"  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  clairvoyant's  susceptibihty 
or  the  value  of  his  disclosures  have  no  reference  whatever  to  the 
character  of  his  understanding.  It  is,  perhaps,  probably  other- 
A\ise ;  although  we  do  not  pretend  to  decide  this  question  with 
any  confidence.  They  who  are  actually  speaking  through  the 
clah-voyant,  may  not  speak  through  his  lips  alone,  but  through 
his  will  and  his  understanding,  of  all  of  which  they  may  have 
possessed  themselves  for  that  time.  And  the  possibility  of  doing 
this,  or  the  degree  in  which  it  may  be  done,  doubtless  depends 
more  or  less  upon  the  original  or  acquired  character  of  the  man's 
mind  or  body.  But  what  we  mean  is,  to  refer  to  a  perfectly  ob- 
vious fact,  which  is  certainly  a  general  if  not  a  universal  charac- 
teristic of  clairvoyance  of  all  kinds  and  degrees  ;  and  that  is,  the 
want  of  all  connection  between  the  mesmeric  condition,  and  the 
state  of  free,  voluntary,  rational  individuality  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
the  state  of  the  man  himself. 

"  From  these  views  our  opinion  of  the  true  relation  between 
Mesmerism*  and  Swedenborgianism  may  easily  be  inferred.    We 

*  We  take  it  for  granted  the  reader  is  a  believer  in  the  facts  which  have 
been  developed  in  respect  to  Animal  Magnetism  or  Mesmerism.  So  many 
volumes,  confirmed  by  eminent  authorities,  have  been  published,, exhibiting 
the  subject,  that  there  can  be  little  or  no  doubt  concerning  its  existence,  and 


316  APPENDIX. 

hold  the  New  Jemsalem  to  be  eminently  a  free  Church,  and  a 
rational  Chiu-ch.  There  is  much  involved  in  these  few  words, 
much  that  we  shall  perhaps  take  occasion  hereafter  to  develop  at 
greater  length.  In  this  connection  we  can  only  say,  that  we 
think  an  intelligent  comprehension  and  a  careful  consideration  of 
the  history  of  preceding  chui-ches  will  lead  one  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  there  has  been,  from  the  beginning,  a  gradation  in  this 
respect,  of  which  the  New  Church  is  the  close  and  crown.  In 
the  most  ancient  times,  when  the  inhabitants  of  earth  breathed 
and  pulsated  with  the  heavens,  as  Swedenborg  informs  us,  these 
were  as  the  children  of  heaven.  Afterwards,  the  Jewish  Church 
was  addressed  by  miracles  of  terror  or  persuasion,  of  menace  or 
reward,  and  a  faith  was  offered  them  which  made  no  claims  upon 
their  understanding.  Then  came  the  first  Christian  Church,  with 
its  sanctions  and  its  evidence  of  a  far  higher  character,  still  using 
miracles  as  its  evidence,  and  threats  and  promises  as  its  sanctions, 
but  addressing  itself,  in  a  good  degree,  through  the  understand- 
ing to  the  heart.  Now,  from  the  same  heavens  from  which  all 
that  is  good  and  true  comes  down,  the  New  Jerusalem  is  descend- 
ing. It  renounces  all  this  kind  of  evidence,  and  all  the  pecuhar 
sanctions  which  belong  to  the  lower  planes  of  the  pjist.  The 
Church  has  now  ascended  a  higher  region,  and  appeals  \vith  pure 
and  absolute  exclusiveness  to  the  rati(jnal  faculty,  and  to  those 
affections  to  which  this  faculty  is  an  avenue.  Not  that  she  re- 
jects all  other  good ;  she  rejects  no  good,  embracing  all ;  the 
good  of  childlike  siraphcity,  of  mere  obedience,  or  of  motives  of 
persuasion.  But  these  are  not  the  childrtjfi  born  in  her  own 
house ;  and  she  welcomes  and  embraces  all  of  them,  that  she 
may  elevate  them  to  or  towards  that  free  and  voluntary  reception 
of  ti-uth  and  good  in  the  understanding  and  the  will,  which  is  pe- 

of  its  talcing  its  place  among  the  realities  and  novelties  of  the  age.  It  is  true 
there  is  danger  of  the  science  being  perverted,  but  we  hardly  need  say  it  is 
the  same  with  almost  every  beneficial  agent  which  has  been  given.  The 
fact  that  it  can  be  used  in  such  a  manner  that  limbs  can  be  amputated  with- 
out the  patient's  knowledge ;  that  it  alleviates  many  disca.ses,  if  it  does  not 
effect  a  radical  cure,  is  sutiicieut  to  call  attention  to  the  subject,  if  not  place 
it  among  the  good  things  which  have  been  bestowed.  For  further  particu- 
lars respecting  Magnetism,  the  reader  may  consult  the  Peimy  Cyclopaedia, 
article  Somnambulism ;  Blackwood's  Magazine,  Vol.  LVIII.,  p.* 736;  Towns- 
hend's  Facts  in  Mesmerism ;  Deleuse,  Hist.  Crit.  du  Miignet ;  Newnham's 
An.  Mag.;  Psycoduuamy  or  Anunal  Magnetism,  by  T.  Leger;  Stilling's 
Pneumatology ;  Letter  on  Animal  Magnetism,  by  Professor  Gregorj-,  Pro- 
fessor of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  1851 ;  and  also  Lectures 
delivered  on  Vital  Magnetism,  by  J.  W.  Haddock,  London,  1849,  and  which 
latter  work  coutaius,  it  is  believed,  as  good  an  explanation  as  has  been 
given. 


DA'SaS     KEVELATIONS.  317 

culiarly  her  own.  Whatever  other  good  may  be  A\athm  her  bor- 
ders, is  not  the  less  but  the  more  good  for  being  there  ;  but  it  is 
only  upon  free,  voluntaiy,  rational  good  and  truth,  that  her  own 
name  and  seal  are  set. 

"  It  is,  we  think,  because  the  New  Jerusalem  has  now  de- 
scended with  these  powers  and  functions  that  Mesmerism  is  now 
permitted  to  appear.  It  does  not  deal  with  truth,  it  does  not 
quietly  address  the  understanding  and  the  affections,  jealously  re- 
specting free  and  voluntaiy  rationality,  and  conscious  individuality, 
as  the  only  basis  of  its  own  operations ;  but  at  once  assails  or 
paralyzes  these,  or  takes  plenary  possession  of  them,  or  casts  them 
into  a  sleep  like  the  sleep  of  death  ;  wliile  it  possesses  and  uses 
the  man  at  its  own  pleasure.  But  a  few  generations  since  this 
could  not  have  been  permitted,  for  there  was  nothing  upon  earth 
able  to  meet  and  control  it.*  Now,  however,  it  has  come  :  come, 
liable  to  abuse  and  mischief  undoubtedly,  but  we  are  willing  to 

*  "  WJien  spirits,^''  says  Swedenborg,  "  leffin  to  sjieah  with  man,  lie  must 
beware  lest  he  believe  them  in  any  thing,  for  they  say  almost  any  thing ; 
things  are  fabricated  by  them,  and  they  lie  ;  for  if  they  were  permitted  to 
relate  what  heaven  is,  and  how  things  are  in  the  heavens,  tliey  would  tell  so 
many  lies,  and  indeed  with  solemn  affirmation,  that  man  would  be  aston- 
ished ;  wherefore,  when  (evil)  spirits  were  speaking,  I  was  not  permitted  to 
have  faith  in  the  things  which  they  related." — Sp.  Diary,  1662.  1902 ;  Ath. 
Creed,  74. 

Swedenborg  here  appears  to  speak  as  if  a  time  was  to  come  when  spirits 
would  again  have  open  intercourse  with  mankind,  and  cautions  those  who  "re- 
ceive the  truths  of  the  New  Dispensation,  against  being  led  away.  Whether 
the  phenomena  now  being  exhibited  in  different  parts  of  the  land  are  reali- 
ties, and  what  they  are  affirmed  to  be,  we  leave  others  to  judge,  having  had 
no  opportunity  ourselves  of  forming  a  decided  opinion.  But  if  it  be  true 
that  spirits  now  have  open  intercourse,  and  make  known  their  presence  by 
knocking,  &c.,  asserting  themselves  to  be  the  spirits  of  Franklin,  Channiug, 
and  others,  we,  for  one,  wholly  discredit  their  assertions,  and  believe  them 
to  be  the  deluded  or  lying  spirits  mentioned  by  Swedenborg.  The  idea  ap- 
pears to  us  preposterous,  and  we  cannot  see  how  it  can  for  a  moment  be 
supposed  tliat  the  spirits  of  this  and  that  distinguished  person  can  be  made 
to  appear  at  the  will  of  a  travelling  "  subject"  or  magnetizer.  The  "  Knoek- 
ings,"  whether  a  fallacy  or  truth,  appear  to  have  caused  some  to  become  be- 
lievers in  a  future  existence,  and  if  they  have  accomplished  this,  and  have 
arrested  attention  in  respect  to  the  invisible  world,  they  are  far  from  being 
useless.  No  doubt  the  extraordinary  phenomena  will  delude  and  injure 
many,  but  in  regard  to  tliis  we  think  the  Divine  Providence  has  given  a 
safeguard  and  test.  For  it  appears  the  knockings  and  manifestations  only 
take  place  when  a  proper  subject  or  medium  can  be  found,  and  cannot  be 
otherwise  produced.  This  being  the  case,  and  as  there  are  very  few  who 
are  mediums,  and  as  none  can  be  acted  upon  except  voluntarily,  all  unusual 
noises  mav  be  attributed  to  natural  causes. 


318  APPENDIX. 

believe  capable  also  of  doing  good  and  peculiar  good,  if,  and  so 
far  as,  it  is  under  the  control  and  government  of  reason  and  reli- 
gion ;  of  a  reason  rejoicing  in  the  light  and  faithful  to  the  guid- 
ance of  a  true  religion. 

"  Swedenborg  speaks  of  ancient  magic  as  a  reahty.  And  since 
the  existence  ofMesmerism,  it  is  common  to  find  writers  about  it 
explaining  the  strange  phenomena  of  ancient  religions  or  supersti- 
tions, or  suggesting  that  they  may  hereafter  be  explained,  by  sup- 
posing that  Mesmeiism  then  also  existed.  In  this  there  is  doubt- 
less some  truth ;  and  if  any  -ire  offended  by  our  likening  Mes- 
merism to  magic,  we  hope  it  will  be  remembered  that  magic  itself 
was  but  the  abuse  of  powers  and  relations  which  in  their  original 
purity  were  fruitful  of  good.  We  have  yet  but  the  beginning  of 
Mesmerism.  It  may  go  on  and  develop  a  power  of  mischief, 
which  it  would  fill  us  with  horror  to  anticipate ;  but  we  believe 
it  will  also  have  a  power  of  good,  which  sliould  be  turned  to  good 
account.  We  hope  its  unquestionable  influence  upon  disease  and 
pain  will  one  day  be  hallowed  by  relations  which  will  leave  that 
power  undiminished  while  they  make  it  safe.  And  as  a  science, 
as  disclosing  facts  and  laws  relating  to  the  laws  of  vitality  and 
the  intercourse  of  the  soul  with  the  body,  and  the  nature  of 
spirit,  we  believe  it  may  prove  itself  a  valuable  instructor."* 

*  There  is  one  truth  which  Mesmerism  teaches,  without  which  it  would 
be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  many  to  receive  the  Scripture  doctrine 
concerning  the  ministration  of  spirits,  and  of  tlieir  intercourse  with  this 
world.  In  Section  VIII.  the  subject  was  mentioned,  and  it  was  shown 
that  when  an  evil  man  was  acting  an  evil  part,  an  evil  spirit  was  connected 
with  him,  who  believed  that  he  was  the  man,  and  acted  altogether  as  of  him- 
self, and  without  reference  to  another. 

Now  in  regard  to  this  it  appears  altogether  inexplicable  ;  for  how,  it  may 
be  asked,  can  it  be  true  that  a  spirit  is  associated  with  us,  and  at  the  same 
time  does  not  know  tliat  he  is,  but  is  so  far  deceived  as  to  believe  that  when 
we  love,  enjoy,  or  hate,  he  does  the  same,  and  altogetlier  of  liimself  ?  But, 
strange  as  it  may  appear,  we  think  the  mesmeric  phenomena  proves  that 
such  intercourse  is  quite  possible  ;  for  in  the  experiments  whicli  liave  been 
made,  it  is  shown  that  one's  mind,  while  on  this  earth,  can  be  put  into  such 
a  state  of  quiescence,  as  to  be  completely  under  the  control  of  another. 
Thus,  it  has  been  repeatedly  exhibited,  that  a  subject  can  be  so  acted  upon 
as  to  think  what  the  magnetizer  thinks ;  to  see  what  the  operator  beholds, 
even  though  his  eyes  ai-e  bandaged  ;  to  taste  what  the  other  partakes  or  ap- 
pears to  take ;  and  so  fur  has  the  transfer  been  made,  that  if  the  operator 
was  pricked  with  a  pin,  the  subject  instantaneously  felt  the  pain,  and  pre- 
cisely as  if  it  had  been  in  his  own  body. 

Now  in  these  experiments  and  others  of  like  nature,  it  is  exhibited  thai 
in  some  mysterious  manner  the  magnetizer's  mind  or  spirit  is  connected  and 
forms  one  with  the  mind  of  the  subjeetr— so  much  so,  that  it  would  appear 


APPENDIX   B 


THE    COLOR   AND    CrV^ILIZATION    OF     THE     MOST    ANCIENT    PEO- 
PLE.  SWEDENBORg's      REPRESENTATIONS     IN     REGARD    TO 

THE    SUBJECT. 

In  Swedenborg's  work  entitled  "  The  Worship  and  Love  of 
God,"  it  is  stated  that  the  race  sprang  from  one  pair,  and  that 
they  were  white.  He  says  of  the  first-born,  that  "  he  possessed  a 
countenance  so  fan*  and  beautiful,  that  it  was  as  that  of  a  Deity 
not  born  to  mortal  life."  Of  Eve  it  is  said,  that  she  was  of  an 
ivory  whiteness.  That  such  is  the  only  true  version  of  man's 
creation,  is  confirmed  by  the  Scriptures,  which  inform  us  that 
man  was  made  after  the  likeness  or  image  of  the  great  Author 
of  Christianity.  It  is  also  evinced  from  the  reason  tliat  the  con- 
trary theory,  or  that  the  first  race  were  black,  is  most  irrational ; 
as  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  God,  after  creating  a  world  redo- 
lent with  life  and  beauty,  would  do  otherwise  than  place  in  it 
beings  suitable  for  such  an  abode,  or  those  who  were  little  lower 
than  the  angels.  To  assert  that  Paradise  was  filled  with  dark 
and  dingy  savages,  a  race  of  ignorant  and  degraded  beings,  is  in 
our  mind  most  absurd,  and  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  science 
of  cori'espondences,  which  teaches  that  God,  in  creating  the 
world,  formed  all  things  fair  and  beautiful,  very  r/ood,  and  as  the 
representative  and  correspondence  of  himself.  According  to  this 
science,  white  is  the  representative  of  truth  and  purity,  and  black 
of  evil ;  and  if  the  Supreme  Ruler  formed  beings  who  were  to 
represent  and  be  the  embodiment  of  truth  and  innocence,  they 

that  the  subject's  intellect  had  disappeared,  and  the  magnetizer  acted  upon 
and  put  in  action  a  lifeless  body.  And  if  this  is  so,  if  it  is  true  that  one  Tnan's 
spirit  can  possess  auotlier,  so  tliat  the  subject's  own  consciousness  is  de- 
stroyed, and  he  at  the  time  thinks  and  fully  believes  that  he  is  acting  from 
himself,  then  it  is  evident  that  it  is  possible  for  spirits  from  the  hidden  world 
to  act  upon  mankind  in  the  same  manner,  and  cause  them  to  thiuk  tliat  they 
are  wholly  acting  from  themselves,  when  in  reality  they  are  but  the  magnet- 
ized subjects  of  those  existing  in  another  life. 


f 


3-20  APPENDIX. 

must  necessarily  have  been  an-ayed  in  heaven's  fau-est  color,  and 
not  in  the  most  gloomy  and  unnatm-al. 

We  have  proof  that  the  most  ancient  race  were  white,  or  had 
a  complexion  in  which  the  rose  and  hly  were  blended,  from  the 
fact  that  just  men  made  perfect  in  another  existence  are  so ; 
and  Swedenborg  infoi-ms  us,  that  when  natives  of  Africa,  those 
worthy  of  the  name  of  good  men,  make  their  appearance  in  the 
spiritual  world,  they  wish  to  change  their  color,  and  put  on  that 
which  is  more  in  accordance  v,[ih  and  coiTCspondent  to  their  exalt- 
ed natures.  Thus  he  says  :  "  I  have  heard  that  the  Moors,  Negroes, 
or  Africans,  do  not  in  the  other  life  desire  to  be  black,  but  white ; 
they  esteem  whiteness  as  beautiful  after  they  have  been  prepared 
for  heaven,  because  the  angels  of  God-Messiah  are  all  tvkite,  and 
the  interior  angels  love  to  be  clothed  in  white  garments." — 
432  S.  D. 

In  this  representation,  it  is  seen  that  the  correspondence  of 
white  with  truth  and  purity  is  perfectly  exhibited,  and  it  is  the 
same  in  regard  to  black ;  for  we  are  informed  that 

"  Black  is  the  badge  of  hell, 
The  hue  of  dungeons,  and  the  scowl  of  night." 

It  is  stated  that  e\il  spirits  appear  in  tliis  gloomy  color.  Thus 
the  fallen  spirit  mentioned  in  the  twenty-tifth  Relation  is  de- 
scribed as  being  of  a  "  sooty  appearance."  In  the  Arcana,  an- 
other is  stated  to  have  presented  the  appearance  of  "  one  black 
as  an  Egyptian  mummy,  both  as  to  body  and  face."  In  Heaven 
and  Hell,  99,  Swedenborg  says,  "  Several  times  it  has  been 
shown  what  the  spirit  of  man  was  in  form,  and  that  it  was  seen 
that  in  some  who  were  beautiful  and  handsome  in  the  face,  it 
was  deformed,  and  black,  and  monstrous,  so  that  you  would  call 
it  an  image  of  hell."* 

*  The  author  of  the  "Vestiges  of  Creation"  asserts,  that  because  the 
bones  of  fishes,  birds,  and  quadrupeds  have  been  found  entombed  in  the 
earth,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  at  one  time  the  fish  changed  into  a 
bird,  tlie  bird  resolved  itself  into  a  beast,  and  the  beast  into  a  human  being  I ! 
If  this  preposterous  theory  were  true,  or  approximated  in  the  least  to  the 
truth,  the  remains  of  the  diflTerent  species  found  would  appear  very  differ- 
ent trom  what  they  do,  and  the  skeletons  of  monsters,  part  fish,  part  bird, 
&c.,  in  every  stage  of  change,  would  have  been  found  ;  and  though  the 
bones  of  several  species  which  do  not  now  exist  have  been  disentombed, 
yet  in  every  case  the  remains  have  been  classified  and  shown  to  have  be- 
longed to  those  of  a  reptile,  beast,  or  bird. 


THE   MOST   ANCIENT   PEOPLE.  321 

But  it  may  be  said,  that  if  the  most  ancient  people  were  white, 
then  from  whence  sprang  tlie  colored  race  ?  To  this  we  reply,  as 
we  believe  is  confirmed  by  the  Scriptures,  that  certain  laws  once 
existed  and  were  permitted  to  act,  which  are  now  miknown,  and 
that  at  this  period  appeared  the  colored  oflFspring.  The  occasion 
of  this  cliange  of  color,  as  we  understand  the  law  which  governs 
correspondences,  spi-ung  from  the  same  reason  as  that  which 
causes  the  earth  to  produce  "  thorns  and  thistles."  These  things 
(including  all  poisonous  plants  and  noxious  animals)  Swedenborg 
states,  and  which  is  agreeable  with  reason,  were  not  created  at 
the  beginning  by  God,  but  proceeded,  and  had  their  origin,  from 
the  lower  sphere.  And  in  regard  to  the  imnatm-al  coloi-,  the 
woolly  hair,  flattened  features,  and  benighted  intellect  of  the 
negro,  there  is  retison  to  suppose  it  was  the  same,  and  that  the 
cause  proceeded  not  from  the  Giver  of  every  good  gift,  but  from 
his  opposite.  When  those  from  whom  have  descended  the  Afri- 
can abused  their  freedom,  and  originated  sins  pecuhar  to  them- 
selves, their  inner  man  or  spirit  lost  its  fairness  and  beauty,  and 
then,  at  that  era,  and  coeval  with  the  production  of  thorns  and 
thistles,  it  is  believed  the  external  forms  of  their  descendants  put 
on  a  color  and  appearance  which  corresponded  with  their  internal 
character. 

We  are  led  to  believe  that  an  explanation  of  this  nature,  or 
the  supposition  that  "  the  origin  of  the  colored  races  sprang  from 
laws  and  causes  which  do  not  now  act,"  will  be  found  to  be  the 
only  manner  by  which  the  difficulties  which  accompany  the  sub- 
ject can  be  solved.  All  other  explanations  have  objections,  as  they 
either  represent  the  different  races  as  deriving  their  origin  from 
several  pairs,  or  from  a  negro,  or  from  causes  and  laws  which  are 
now  in  operation.  Thus  take  the  theory,  which  is  the  most 
plausible,  that  all  sprung  from  a  single  pair,  who  were  white, 
and  that  their  descendants,  by  climate  and  intermarriage,  have, 
after  a  long  course  of  time,  become  changed,  and  given  birth  to 
the  Indian  and  African :  it  will  be  found  that  the  hypothesis  will 
not  bear  an  examination  ;  for  as  far  as  our  knowledge  extends, 
the  same  laws  which  now  regulate  the  subject  have  controlled  it 
from  the  period  when  history  begins  to  be  reliable  and  authen- 
tic. Then,  or  five  thousand  years  ago,  as  evinced  by  the 
monuments  of  Egypt,  the  negro  race  differed  from  the  white  pre- 

21 


322  APPENDIX. 

cisely  as  now.  The  same  species  produced  its  like  ;  black  chil- 
dren were  born  of  colored  parents,  and  white  from  those  who 
were  of  an  European  cast.  And,  as  truly  remarked,  to  assert 
that  change  of  climate  or  habitation  have  produced  the  difference 
that  is  observed  in  the  two  races,  is  to  assume  what  has  no  his- 
torical, or  physiological,  or  physical  foundation. 

Swedenborg  confirms  the  great  truth  that  "  God  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men,"  by  his  observations  concerning  the 
most  ancient  race ;  for  he  coni,mually,  and  without  reference  to 
any  other,  speaks  of  them  as  those  who  first,  existed  and  com- 
posed the  most  ancient  Church.  He  represents  this  period  as 
the  "  golden  age."  If  races  of  savages  existed  at  that  time  in 
different  parts  of  the  earth,  his  representation  concerning  the  age 
of  happiness  would,  with  many  other  things,  be  overthrown. 

Our  views,  or  those  of  a  similar  nature,  are  taken  by  an 
eminent  New  Churchman  (Kinmont)  in  his  "  Natural  History  of 
Man."  Thus  in  regard  to  the  theory  held  forth  by  the  author  of 
the  "  Vestiges  of  Creation,"  he  says  : 

"According  to  this  view  of  the  subject,  provided  I  have  made 
it  sufficiently  intelligible,  it  is  not  only  absurd  in  itself,  but  also  at 
variance  with  all  rules  of  legitimate  pliilosophy  to  suppose,  as 
some  have  done,  that  one  species  of  animals  have  sprung  from 
another,  the  more  perfect  from  the  less  perfect,  and  so  on  con- 
tinually, much  in  the  same  way  as  individuals  are  now  engen- 
dered ;  for  this  entire  fancy  is  drawn  altogether  from  the  analogy 
of  the  I'ules  of  creation  which  now  prevail,  and  cannot  therefore 
be  justly  applied  to  explain  the  circumstances  of  a  creation 
yfhich,  from  its  very  nature,  was  distinct  and  original." 

Concerning  the  oneness  of  the  race  we  find  the  foUowinsf : 

"  In  the  first  place,  that  the  human  race  is  one,  and  that  this 
oneness  is  recognized  as  a  truth  of  religion,  and  becomes  morally 
and  civilly  recognizable  also  in  those  universal  principles  of  the 
moral  law,  which  all  men  more  or  less  discover  written  in  their 
hearts,  or  described  in  their  social  usages,  to  which  implanted 
moral  sense  responds.  All  human  beings  understand  the  moral 
obligations,  and  yield  them  homage ;  this  is  the  veriest  sign  of 
natural  unity,  the  most  catholic  and  the  most  intelligible.  The 
other  sign,  which  is  a  physical  one,  is  inscribed  on  the  human 
form ;    the  human  form  is  one  ;    the  same  bones,  teeth,  obvious 


THE   MOST   ANCIENT    PEOPLE.  323 

relations  and  proportions,  attitudes,  movements,  physical  gesture 
and  behavior,  so  that  all  who  see  the  creature  say,  It  is  a  man; 
and  there  is  not  even  room  for  equivocation,  so  palpable  is  the 
fact.  Religion  sheds  one  light  on  it,  and  Science  another ;  and 
Ave  read  it  both  in  sunlight  and  in  moonlight,  that  man  is  one, 
essentially  so — the  image  of  his  Maker  on  the  one  hand,  the  epit- 
ome of  nature  on  the  other," 

Again,  he  says,  page  172 

"  And  it  might  be  easy  then  to  imagine  (which  we  also  believe 
to  be  the  fact)  that  the  whole  human  family  is  actually  sprung 
from  a  single  pair,  but  that  this  single  pair  possessed  within  them 
the  innate  tendency  to  give  rise  in  the  progress  of  generations  to 
several  distinct  origins  of  races,  in  tlie  children  which  were  born 
of  them,  which  afterwards  separating,  not  under  the  auspices  of 
chance,  but  the  better  influences  of  that  benign  Power  under 
whose  sway  chance  has  no  allotment,  were  led,  each  to  distinct 
quarters  of  the  earth,  there  to  lay  the  foundations  of  nations, 
which  at  first  apparently  unequal  in  their  fortunes,  are  yet  de- 
signed to  discover  equally  grand,  although  different  energies  of 
good,   reflected   on    them  from  the  attributes  of  the   Creator. 
How  unlike,  often,  are  the  children  of  one  pair !  and  slumberino- 
faculties  that  once  were  awake  in  early  progenitors  will  be  latent 
in  several  generations,  and  again,  as  it  were,  suddenly  and  unex- 
pectedly burst  forth  in  some  remote  descendant ;    and  the  very 
mind  and  form,  perhaps,  will  reappear  in  the  family  after  five  or 
six  generations ;  tliis  fact  is  ascertained  where  portraits  of  families 
have  been  preserved.     Where,  in  the  mean  time,  were  the  latent 
genius,  the  latent  form  ?  Do  we  know  any  thing  of  the  laws  ac- 
cording to  which  all  this  takes  place  ?     And  whence,  then,  the 
unreserved,  the  bold  assertion  of  Voltaire  and  others,  that  the 
different  races  of  mind  could  not  have  sprung  from  a  single  pair  ? 
What  do  we  know,  what  could  he  know  of  that  single   pair? 
tvhat  was  that  single  pair  ?     Has  science  told  us  ?  can  it  tell  us  ? 
We  know  nothing  of  it  but  from  theology,  and  the  truths  of  the- 
ology are  not  to  be  degraded  to  the  level  of  science.     The  Adam 
and  Eve  of  our  Sacred  Scriptures  are  characters  too  sacred, 
representing  truths  too  momentous  to  be  made  the  playthings  of 
a  philosophical  discussion ;  they  were  not  intended,  evidently,  as 
there  spoken  of,  to  be  regarded  merely  as  personages  of  history  : 
when  I  speak,  therefore,  of  a  first  pair,  I  shall  imagine  a  first 
pair ;  and  what,  I  would  ask,  can  we  know  of  those  endowments, 
physical  and  mental,  with  which  they  were  invested  ?     Is  it  to 


324  APPENDIX. 

be  held  an  impossible  supposition,  that  the  Creator  may  have  so 
moulded  them  as  that  they  should  have  contained  wthin  them 
the  types  of  all  the  families  of  the  earth  ?  If  the  type  of  the 
form  and  genius  of  a  distinguished  individual  of  a  family  can  be 
latent  in  several  generations  and  again  reappear  with  its  original 
brilliancy,  as  it  did  in  the  first  that  wore  it,  could  we  wonder  that 
the  Creator  may  have  conferred  upon  the  mind  and  form  of  the 
first  pair  the  singular  endowment  of  being  able  to  be  the  cause 
and  the  natural  stock  whence  should  spring  several  distinct  and 
ever  afterwards  separated  races^,  which  were  to  take  their  several 
stations  on  this  beauteous  globe,  their  adorned  dwelUng-place, 
which  through  a  long  series  of  protracted  epochs  had  been  pre- 
paring, and  was  at  length  prepared  to  be  for  them  an  appropriate 
habitation  ?"* 

The  author  of  the  "  Vestiges  of  Creation"  endeavors  to  aid  his 
theory  by  asserting  that  civilization  Avas  imknown  in  the  primi- 
tive ages,  and  hence  that  the  first  race  must  have  been  savages. 
This  inference  is  apparently  plausible,  but  it  must  be  first 
shown  that  its  assumption  is  ti-ue.  According  to  Swedenborg 
it  was  directly  the  contrary,  and  those  who  were  first  created, 
being  born  in  order,\  came  into  the  very  arcana  of  knowledge. 
It  is  asserted  that  they-were  not,  as  at  the  present  day,  slowly 
and  through  the  medium  of  the  bodily  senses  instructed  and  per- 
fected in  the  various  sciences,  but  were  taught  from  the  soul  it- 
self— the  instruction  proceeding  subjectively,  and  from  the  world 


*  ^Natural  History  of  Man,  by  Alexander  Kinmont,  A.M. 

t  Mr.  Combe  asserts  that  man  is  now  bom  in  order.  But  how  sensuous 
is  the  view  !  It  is  true  that  we  see  tlie  same  physical  frame,  but  how  changed 
is  the  spirit  or  inner  man  !  Once  it  corresponded  to  its  God-like  nature,  but 
now,  even  in  those  whose  forms  are  radiant  witli  external  beauty,  we  know 
from  their  actions,  which  speak  louder  than  words,  that  the  spirit  within  is 
of  the  darkest  hue.  The  sensuous  philosopher  affirms  that  man  is  not  born 
in  disorder  ;  but  how  vain  the  reason  !  Is  he  not  born  in  disorder  when  we 
see  the  infant,  just  from  its  mother's  arms — one  who  has  had  no  opportunity, 
by  example  or  intercourse  with  others,  to  be  contaminated — show  signs  of 
anger,  rage,  and  hatred  ?  Is  it  to  be  supposed  that  God  created  the  first- 
born thus  ?  Such  a  belief  is  impious,  yet  it  must  be  admitted  if  it  be  true 
that  man  is  now  born  in  order.  And  so  likewise  in  regard  to  diseases  which 
children  inherit.  Does  the  Giver  of  every  good  gift  place  them  there  ?  "We 
well  know  that  he  does  not,  but  that  they  spring  from  the  parents  whose 
spiritual  nature  and  body  are  in  disorder,  through  whom,  in  accordance 
with  the  great  laws  which  govern,  they  are  transmitted  to  their  ofispring. 


THE   MOST   ANCIENT    PEOPLE.  325 

within,  and  not  as  now,  objectivehj,  and  from  the  woild  without. 
This  explanation  appears  to  us  rational,  and  indeed  as  the  only 
manner  in  which  the  subject  can  be  adequately  exhibited ;  for  as 
youth  are  now  instnicted,  it  is  essential  that  some  one  should 
teach  them,  and  as  there  Avas  no  other  beinjr  then  existing  on  the 
earth  except  the  first-born,  he  must  necessarily  have  been  taught 
in  a  way  altogether  different  from  the  mode  adopted  at  the 
px'esent  period.     But  let  us  give  Swedenborg's  explanation. 

"  Brute  animals,  which  are  born  into  a  full  obedience  to  their 
soul  from  the  first  moment  of  their  nativity,  have  also  power  over 
their  hmbs  and  muscles,  stand  upon  their  feet  and  walk,  and  skil- 
fully perform  the  proper  functions  of  their  nature,  still  more  won- 
derful than  what  are  above  recounted  ;  and  from  the  same  moment 
they  enjoy  in  full  vigor  the  exieraal  senses :  but  it  is  otherwise 
with  the  human  race  in  their  most  tender  infancy ;  the  reason  is, 
because  we  enjoy  a  certain  proper  mind,  which  is  called  intellec- 
tual and  rational,  from  which,  as  from  its  fountain,  the  will  pro- 
ceeds ;  this^  our  mind,  is  what  governs  the  muscles  and  sensories 
of  the  body ;  wherefore  also  the  actions,  which  are  determined 
by  means  of  the  muscles,  belong  to  it,  and  are  called  voluntary, 
which  are  so  far  rational  as  they  descend  from  the  purer  and 
more  sublime  intellect  of  that  mind.  This,  our  mind,  w^iich,  as 
was  said,  presides  over  the  muscles  and  organs  of  sense,  is  not 
born  together  with  the  body,  but  is  opened,  grows,  and  is  per- 
fected in  process  of  time  by  the  beneficial  aid  of  the  senses ;  and 
this  is  the  reason  why  we  are  born  into  such  impotence  of  acting 
and  feehng.  It  was  altogether  otherwise  in  our  first-begotten., 
whose  rational  or  intellectual  mind  was  not  to  be  instructed  and 
perfected  in  a  similar  manner,  or  from  the  bodily  senses,  but 
from  the  soul  itself,  while  the  sensories  of  the  body  only  adminis- 
tered and  were  subsenient ;  for  he  was  born  into  a  state  of  the 
greatest  integrity,  and  into  perfections  themselves,  wherefore  full 
power  must  of  necessity  have  been  given,  from  the  first  moments 
of  life,  to  his  soul,  enabling  it  to  operate  upon  the  muscles  and 
sensories  of  the  body,  without  the  mediation  of  this  secondary 
mind  and  its  will ;  but  that  the  case  is  otherwise  in  his  posterity, 
is  a  most  evident  sign  of  imperfection." —  Worship  and  Love  of 
God,  43. 

In  the  DiA'ine  Providence  it  is  stated,  that  "  if  man  were  bora 
into  the  love  into  which  he  was  created,  he  would  not  be  in  any 
evil The  love  into  which  man  was  created  is  the  love  of 


3:26  APPENDIX. 

the  neighbor,  that  he  may  will  as  well  to  him  as  he  vn\h  to  him- 
self, and  better ;  and  that  he  may  be  in  the  delight  of  that  love 
when  he  is  doing  good  to  him,  scarcely  otherwise  than  a  parent  is 
towards  his  children.  This  love  is  truly  human,  for  in  it  there  is 
a  spiritual,  by  which  it  is  distinguished  from  natural  love,  which 
brute  animals  have :  if  man  were  bom  into  that  love,  he  would 
not  be  born  into  the  thick  darkness  of  iyndrance,  as  ever}'  man 
now  is,  but  into  some  light  of  science,  and  thence  of  intelligence, 
into  which  he  would  also  shortly  come ;  and,  indeed,  he  would 
at  first  creep  like  quadrupeds,  but  with  the  implanted  endeavor 
of  erecting  himself  upon  his  feet;  for,  although  a  quadruped,  still 
he  would  not  turn  his  face  downwards  to  the  earth,  but  forward 
to  heaven  ;  and  would  raise  himself  erect,  that  he  might  also  turn 
it  upwards." — (275.) 

In  the  Arcana,  895,  we  find  the  following :  "  With  the  man 
of  the  most  ancient  Church,  there  was  ground  (or  an  intellectual 
part),  in  his  voluntaiT,  wherein  the  Lord  sowed  goods ;  hence, 
from  goods  he  was  enabled  to  know  and  perceive  truth,  or  from 
love  to  have  faith ;  in  case  the  same  were  done  at  this  time,  man 
must  needs  perish  eternally,  for  his  will  is  altogether  comipt. 
Hence  it  may  appear  how  the  case  is  in  respect  to  insemination 
into  the  voluntary'  part,  and  into  the  intellectual  part  of  man ; 
viz.,  that  the  man  of  the  most  ancient  Church  had  revelations, 
whereby  he  was  initiated  from  his  infancy  into  the  perceptions  of 
things  good  and  true  ;  but  whereas  they  were  sown  in  his  volun- 
tary part,  he  had  a  perception  of  innumerable  things  without  new 
instructions,  so  that  from  one  general  he  was  acquainted  with 
particulars  and  singulars  from  the  Lord." 

"  In  the  most  ancient  times,  men  were  informed  concerning 
heavenly  things,  or  those  which  relate  to  eternal  life,  by  immedi- 
ate intercourse  witli  tlie  angels  of  heaven ;  for  heaven  then  acted 
as  one  with  tlie  man  of  the  Church,  inasmuch  as  it  flowed  in 
through  the  internal  man  into  their  external,  whence  they  had 
not  only  illustration  and  perception,  but  also  discourse  with  the 
angels ;  this  time  toas  called  the  golden  age,  from  the  circum- 
stance that  men  were  then  in  the  good  of  love  to  the  Lord,  for 
gold  signifies  that  good  ;  those  things  are  also  described  by  para- 
dise in  the  Word."* — (10,  354.) 

*  In  some  parts  of  Swedenborg's  explanations,  it  would  appear  as  if  at  one 


THE   MOST    ANCIENT   PEOPLE.  327 

In  the  above  citations,  it  can  be  seen  that  Swedenborg  dis- 
tinctly informs  us  that  man  was  not  born  of  a  savage  nature,  or 
gradually  passed  through  many  changes  until  he  became  an  en- 
lightened being,  but  was  formed  in  order,  and  created  a  little 
lower  than  the  angels.  We  do  not  attempt  to  argue  that  the 
civilization  which  existed  among  the  most  ancient  race  was  like 
that  which  exists  at  present.  It  was  not — for  if  it  had  been,  it 
could  not  have  been  called  a  golden  ago,  and,  indeed,  might  be 
termed  an  age  of  barbarism  ;  for,  as  we  undei-stand  the  time  defi- 
nition of  the  word  civilization  (or  of  a  civilized  and  enlightened 
nation),  it  designates  a  people  not  only  intelligent,  but  free  from  sin 
and  misery — those  who  are  destitute  of  nothing,  and  who  without 
exception  are  able  to  enjoy  their  own  life  and  partake  of  Heaven's 

time  the  most  ancient  people  lived  in  a  barbarous  state,  and  like  "  wild 
beasts."  But  this  representation  is  to  be  taken  figuratively,  and  not  to  bo 
understood  in  the  literal  sense.  It  is  so  to  be  interpreted  for  tlie  reason  that 
Swedenborg,  in  the  "  Worship  and  Love  of  God,"  p.  61,  asserts  that  "  the 
Jirxt-honi  at  one  period  was  Hike  unto  a  reptile,''  and  differed  nothing  from 
the  wild  beasts  in  his  manner  of  moving."  Yet  from  this  it  is  not  to  be  \\n- 
derstood  that  he  was  a  reptile  or  wild  beast,  but  an  infant — one  who  was  in 
a  sensuous  state,  and  wiio  had  not  yet  acquired  the  full  use  of  his  limbs,  or 
exercised  his  rational  powers.  Tliis  view  is  confirmed  in  the  Divine  Provi- 
dence, 275,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  man  when  first  created,  and  in  his 
mfancy,  crept  like  a  quadruped — and,  fiffurativeli/,  was  a  quadruped  or  beast. 
In  the  A.  C,  246,  we  are  informed  that  beast  and  wild  beast  of  the  field 
signify  affection,  or  affection  of  the  external  (or  sensuous)  man;  and  hence 
we  think  the  proper  inference  to  be  drawn  is,  that  the  different  states  of  re- 
generation which  the  most  ancient  race  passed  through  took  place  in  their 
infancy,  and  altogether  at  a  different  period  from  that  which  occurs  with 
man  at  the  present  day.  This  must  be  admitted,  unless  it  is  insisted  that 
the  most  ancient  race  were  created  evil  beings,  and  possessed  the  sinful  na- 
ture of  those  existing  at  the  present  period,  which,  we  need  not  say,  is 
impossible  and  contradictory  to  all  Swcdenborg's  explanations.  We  read 
that  no  angel  is  perfect,  and  hence  the  natural  inference  would  be  that  man 
at  first,  as  far  as  possih)le,  was  born  in  the  light  of  science  and  intelligence  ; 
yet  still  had  to  pass  through  different  states  before  he  became  a  celestial 
man,  and  became  aware  that  all  life  and  good  proceeded  from  his  Creator.  It 
is  our  opinion  that  the  narration  given  in  the  Love  and  Birth  of  the  Earth, 
of  the  first-born,  is  not  only  a  true  representation  of  the  creation  of  man,  but 
also  exhibits  the  different  states  of  reformation  and  regeneration  which  the 
first  race  passed  through,  and  from  dead  became  living  and  celestial  men. 
See  further  in  respect  to  this  subject,  125,  201,  202,  243,  A.  C,  in  which  it  is 
btated  tliat  the  most  ancient  celestial  people  were  altogether  different  from 
those  of  the  present  day,  that  they  refrained  from  eating  of  the  tree  of 
science,  conversed  differently,  and  had  a  knowledge  of  heavenly  things  by 
immediate  revelations. 


328  APPENDIX. 

blessings.  A  civilization  different  from  this,  whatever  preten- 
sions it  may  make,  is  but  an  approximation  to  the  truth ;  and 
considering  the  subject  in  this  manner,  the  most  ancient  people 
were  far  more  enlightened  than  those  now  existing.  It  is  true 
there  were  not  so  many  inventions — not  any  railways,  as  they 
were  not  required.  The  race  had  not  with  great  diflSculty  to  toil 
for  fuel,  and  penetrate  the  earth  for  protection  against  wintry 
blasts,  as  the  climate  was  so  mild  and  beautiful  that  it  was  un- 
necessary. Neither  did  they  Lave  to  waste  their  resources  in 
constructing  prisons,  there  being  no  criminals.  They  had  not  to 
support  a  standing  ai-my,  because  there  was  no  one  to  disturb 
them,  and  each  could  fearlessly  rest  under  his  own  vine  and  fig- 
tree.  As  the  earth  produced  fruits  in  the  greatest  abundance, 
the  labor  was  light,  and  they  had  not,  as  at  the  present  day,  to 
work  for  a  mere  subsistence,  but  had  sufficient  leisure  for  intel- 
lectual improvement  and  cultuie,  and  to  listen  to  the  words  of 
their  heavenly  visitants.  The  era  was  eminently  a  pastoral  one, 
an  age  of  happy  innocence,  in  which  the  arts  were  but  slightly 
cultivated,  and  it  was  only  in  after  yeais  that  temples  and  palaces 
w-Cffe  erected.* 

Amono:  the  reasons  which  induce  us  to  believe  that  Sweden- 


*  "  It  was  declared  to  me,"  says  Swedenborg,  "  that  the  most  ancient 
people  on  this  earth  lived  in  like  manner  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  planet 
Jupiter,  viz.,  that  they  were  distinguished  into  nations,  famiUes,  and  houses, 
and  that  all  at  that  time  were  content  with  their  own  possessions ;  and  that 
it  was  a  thing  altogether  unknown  for  one  person  to  enrich  himself  at  the 
expense  of  another,  or  to  aspire  at  dominion  from  a  principle  of  self-love ; 
and  that  on  this  account  th-e  ancient  times,  and  especially  the  most  ancient, 
were  more  acceptable  to  the  Lord  than  succeeding  times ;  and  such  being 
the  state  of  the  world,  innocence  also  then  reigned,  attended  with  wisdom : 
every  one  did  what  was  good  from  a  principle  of  good,  and  what  was  just 
from  a  principle  of  justice ;  to  do  what  is  good  and  just  with  a  view  of  self- 
advancement,  or  for  tlie  sake  of  gain,  was  a  thing  unknown  ;  at  the  same 
time  they  spake  nothing  but  what  was  true,  and  this  not  so  much  from  a 
principle  of  truth  as  from  a  principle  of  good,  that  is,  not  from  an  intellect- 
ual principle  separate  from  the  will-principle,  but  from  a  will-principle  joined 
with  the  intellectual.  Such  were  the  ancient  times,  wherefore  angels  could 
then  converse  with  men,  and  convey  their  minds,  almost  separate  from 
things  corporeal,  into  heaven ;  yea,  could  conduct  them  through  the  heavenly 
societies,  and  show  them  the  magnificent  and  blessed  things  abounding 
therein,  and  likewise  communicate  to  them  their  happiness  and  delights ; 
these  times  were  known  also  to  the  ancient  writers,  and  were  by  them  called 
the  GoLDBN  and  also  Saturnian  ages."— See  A.  C,  8118,  10160. 


ANCIENT   CIVILIZATION.  329 

borg's  assertions  can  be  relied  upon,  is  the  fact  that  we  know  of 
no  such  thing  as  a  principle  of  truth  (from  which  has  sprung 
modern  civilization)  ever  self-originating.  We  hold  it  as  unde- 
niable, that  the  mind  of  man  naturally,  and  without  instruction,  is 
incapable  of  arriving  at  a  knowledge  of  God  and  immortality.  This 
is  proved  from  the  fact  that  deaf  and  dumb  persons  before  instruc- 
tion are  wholly  ignorant  concerning  those  truths,  and  form  the 
most  gross  ideas  concerning  life  and  death.  It  is  also  shown  from 
the  reason  that,  as  far  as  we  can  go  back,  the  rudiments  of  civih- 
zation  have  ever  been  imparted  from  one  people  to  another,  and 
hence  must  have  had  a  supernatural  origin.  This  explains  the 
source  from  whence  Pythagoras,  Socrates,  Plato,  and  otiiers,  de- 
rived their  information.*  If  it  had  originated  with  themselves, 
there  would  have  been  little  or  no  necessity  for  a  written  revela- 
tion from  God,  as  the  truths  which  they  taught  comprised  the  es- 
sentials of  morality  and  religion.  It  is  asserted  that  the  lost  book 
of  Jasher,  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  composed  a  part  of  the 
ancient  Bible.f 

*  "  That  from  tlie  most  ancient  times  there  was  religion,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants of  tlie  world  everywhere  knew  concerning  God,  and  something  con- 
cerning life  after  death,  was  not  from  themselves,  or  from  their  own  intelli- 
gence, but  from  the  ancient  Word,  and  afterwards  from  the  Israelitisli  Word. 
From  these  two  Words  religion  emanated  into  the  Indies,  and  their  islands, 
and  through  Egypt  and  Ethiopia  into  the  kingdoms  of  Africa,  and  from  the 
maritime  parts  of  Asia  into  Greece,  and  thence  into  Italy.  But,  because  the 
Word  could  not  be  written  otherwise  than  by  representatives,  which  are 
such  things  in  the  world  as  correspond  to  heavenly  things,  and  thence  sig- 
nify them,  tlierefore  the  religious  things  of  the  Gentile  nations  were  turned 
into  idolatries,  and  in  Greece  into  fables ;  and  the  divine  attributes  and  prop- 
erties into  so  many  gods,  over  whom  they  made  one  supreme,  whom  they 
called  Jove,  perhaps  from  .Jehovah.  It  is  known  that  they  had  knowledge 
concerning  paradise,  concerning  the  deluge,  concerning  tlie  sacred  fire,  and 
concerning  the  four  ages — from  the  first,  or  the  golden,  to  the  last,  or  the 
iron,  as  in  Daniel  ii.  SI  to  35."— T.  C.  E.,  275. 

+  "  That  there  wa.s  a  Word  among  the  ancients  is  evident  in  Moses,  by 
whom  it  is  mentioned,  and  something  taken  from  it,  Num.  xxi.  14,  15,  27  to 
30,  aiid  that  the  historieals  of  that  W^ord  were  called  The  Wars  of  Jekonah, 
and  tlie  prophetical?,  the  Enunciations.  From  the  historicals  of  that  Word 
this  passage  was  taken  by  Moses :  Therefore  it  is  said  in  the  Book  of  the 
Waijs  of  Jehovah,  '  wTiat  he  did  in  the  Red  Sea  {Suj^ha),  and  in  the  rivers  of 
Arnon,  and  at  Hie  stream  of  the  lanlcs  that  goeth  down  to  the  dweU'mg  of  Ar, 
and  lieth  upon  the  border  of  Muab.'' — Num.  xxi.  14,  15 

"  Besides  these,  a  prophetical  book  of  the  ancient  Word,  called  the  Book 
OF  Jashee,  or  the  Book  of  the  Upright,  is  mentioned  by  David  and  by 


330  AFPENDIX. 

We  are  also  led  to  believe  that  the  views  which  have  been 
adopted  can  be  relied  upon,  from  the  great  antiquity  of  the  earth,* 
and  "  the  fact  that  we  see  many  examples  of  nations  falling  away 

Joshua.  By  David :  '  David  lamented  over  Saul  and  over  Jonathan,  and  wrote 
to  teach  tlie  sons  ofjudah  the  bow ;  see  wliat  is  written  in  the  Book  of  Jasher.' 
— 2  Sam.  i.  17,  18  ;  and  by  Joshua — '  Joshua  said :  Sun,  rest  in  G-iheon  ;  and 
moon,  in  the  vaUey  of  Ajalon  ;  m  not  this  written  in  the  Book  of  Jasher  V  " — 
Joshua  X.  12 ;  T.  C.  E.,  265. 

*  The  antiquity  of  the  earth  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following  Arabian 
fable,  styled  the  Revolutions  of  Time.  The  narrator  is  supposed  to  have  lived 
three  thousand  years  on  the  earth,  and  to  have  travelled  much  in  the  course 
of  his  life,  and  to  have  noted  down  the  various  changes  which  took  place 
with  respect  to  the  surface  of  the  globe  in  many  places,  and  to  have  been 
conversant  with  the  various  generations  of  men  that  succeeded  each  other. 

This  fable  we  consider  illustrative  of  the  antiquities  of  all  countries,  as 
well  as  of  the  changes  which  have  most  certainly  taken  place  in  our  own,  as 
it  relates  to  surface  and  inhabitants.  The  name  of  the  traveller  was  Khidr, 
and  his  story  is  as  follows  : 

"  I  was  passing  (says  Khidr)  a  populous  city,  and  I  asked  one  of  the  in- 
liabitants,  '  How  long  has  this  city  been  built  ?'  But  he  said,  '  This  city  is 
an  ancient  city  ;  we  know  not  at  what  time  it  was  built ;  neither  we  nor  our 
fathers.' 

"Then  I  passed  by  after  five  hundred  years,  and  not  a  trace  of  the  city 
was  to  be  seen ;  but  I  found  a  man  gathering  herbs,  and  I  asked  him,  '  How 
long  has  this  city  been  destroyed  V  But  he  said,  '  The  country  has  always 
been  thus.'  And  I  said,  '  But  there  was  a  city  here.'  Then  he  said,  '  We 
have  seen  no  city  here,  nor  have  we  heard  of  such  from  our  fathers.' 

"  After  five  hundred  years  I  returned,  and  behold,  the  lake  was  dried  up ; 
and  I  met  a  solitary  man,  and  said  to  him,  '  When  did  this  spot  become  dry 
land  ?'  And  he  said,  '  It  was  always  thus.'  '  But  formerly  (said  1)  it  was  a 
lake.'     And  he  said,  '  We  never  saw  it,  nor  heard  of  it  before.' 

"  And  five  hundred  years  afterwards  I  again  passed  by,  and  again  found  a 
populous  and  beautiful  city,  and  finer  than  I  had  at  first  seen  it ;  and  I  asked 
one  of  the  inhabitants, '  When  was  this  city  built  ?'  And  he  said,  '  Truly  it 
is  an  ancient  place,  and  we  know  not  the  date  of  its  building,  neither  we  nor 
our  fathers.' " 

The  human  race  has  everywhere  experienced  terrible  revolutions.  Pesti- 
lence, wars,  and  the  convulsions  of  the  globe,  have  annihilated  the  proudest 
works,  and  rendered  vain  the  noblest  elforts  of  man. 

Ask  not  the  sage  when  and  by  whom  were  erected  those  lingering 
ruins  of  the  West,  the  imperishable  memorials  of  ages  long  since  swallowed 
up  in  the  ocean  of  time ;  ask  not  the  wild  Arab  where  may  be  found  the 
owner  of  the  superb  palace,  within  whose  broken  walls  he  casts  his  tent ; 
ask  not  the  poor  fishennan  as  he  spreads  his  nets,  or  the  ploughman  who 
whistles  over  the  fields.  Where  is  Carthage  ?  Where  is  Troy  ?  of  whose 
splendor  historians  and  poets  have  so  much  boasted.  Alas  !  they  have 
vanished  from  the  things  that  be,  and  have  left  but  the  melancholy  lesson 

of  the  instability  of  the  most  stupendous  labors  of  our  race. American 

Apti/jvities,  J.  Priest,  p.  870. 


ANCIENT   CIVILIZATION.  331 

from  civilization  into  barbarism ;  while  in  some  regions  of  the 
earth,  the  history  of  which  we  do  not  clearly  know,  there  are  re- 
mains of  art  far  superior  to  any  which  the  present  unenlightened 
inhabitants  could  have  produced."  Take,  for  example,  the  sculp- 
tures which  Mr.  Layard  has  disentombed  from  the  supposed 
site  of  Nineveh.  These  remains  of  ancient  art  are  superior,  in 
d:  awing  and  effect,  to  any  thing  which  has  been  discovered  in 
Egypt  or  China,  and  which  permits  the  inference  that  those  who 
executed  them  wei-e  not  only  more  enlightened  than  those  nations, 
but  possibly  the  source  from  which  the  Egyptians  and  Chinese 
procured  their  knowledge. 

The  traditions  of  all  nations  refer  back  to  a  happy  state  or 
golden  age  in  which  man  first  existed.  It  is  mentioned  by 
Hesiod,  Homer,  Ovid,  and  others,  and  its  authenticity  stands  on 
the  same  grounds  as  other  truths  Avhich  have  been  handed  down. 
Ovid  makes  the  folloAving  beautiful  allusion : 

"  The  golden  age  was  first ;  when  man  yet  knew 
No  rule  but  uncorrupted  reason  knew, 
And  with  a  native  bent  did  good  pursue. 


The  teeming  earth  yet  guiltless  of  the  plough, 
And  unprovoked  did  fruitful  stores  allow : 
Content  with  food,  which  nature  freely  bred, 
On  wildings  and  on  strawberries  they  fed  ; 
Cornels  and  bramble-berries  gave  the  rest, 
And  falling  acorns  furnished  out  a  feast. 
Thfb  flowers  unsown  in  fields  and  meadows  reigned, 
And  western  winds  immortal  spring  maintained. 
In  following  years  the  bearded  corn  ensued 
From  earth  unasked,  nor  was  that  earth  renewed. 
From  veins  of  valleys  milk  and  nectar  broke. 
And  honey  sweating  through  the  pores  of  oak." 

Again  the  poet,  when  signifying  that  the  seasons  were  shorter 
than  the  present,  observes  : 

"  But  when  good  Saturn,  banished  from  above, 
Was  driven  to  hell,  the  world  was  under  love  ; 
Succeeding  times  a  silver  age  behold. 
Excelling  brass,  but  more  excelled  by  gold. 
Then  summer,  autumn,  winter  did  appear, 
And  spring  was  but  a  season  of  the  year. 


332  APPENDIX. 


Virgil: 


The  sun  his  annual  course  obliquely  made, 
Good  days  contracted  and  enlarged  the  bad." 


"  In  this  soft  season  let  me  dare  to  sing, 
The  world  was  hatched  by  heaven's  imperial  king, 
In  prime  of  all  the  year  and  holidays  of  spring ; 
Nor  other  was  the  tenor  of  tlie  year, 
When  laugliing  heaven  did  the  great  birth  attend, 
And  eastern  winds  their  wintry  breath  suspend." 

Georgics,  Book  II.,  p.  337. 

Alcimus  Avitus  : 

'  Nor  winter  here  held  his  alternate  reign  ; 
Nor  after  winter  chills  shone  burning  suns. 
.  .  .  But  here  soft  spring  her  constant  reign  maintained ; 
Unknown  as  yet  the  ruthless  southern  blast. 
And  ever  underneath  the  dewy  heavens. 
Into  clear  air  the  gathering  mist  dissolved."* 

Book  I.,  p.  11. 

Swedenborg,  in  liis  Principia,  makes  the  following  observations, 
and  which,  as  they  have  reference  to  the  subject,  may  not  be  im- 
proper to  introduce.     He  says  : 

"  The  ancient  philosophers,  in  their  alh:sions  to  this  period, 
supposed  that  paradise  was  situated  in  sonic  higher  region  than 
the  one  occupied  by  the  surface  of  the  earth  in  the  present  day, 
so  that  it  would  seem  as  if  they  thought  the  earth  was  nearer  to 
the  sun  ;  and  hence  Plato,  in  his  Phaedo,  makes  mention  of  a  cer- 
tain ethereal  country.  Hesiod  mentions  the  garden  of  the  Hes- 
perides  beyond  the  ocean ;  Moses  also  speaks  of  a  fiery  flaming 
sword  separating  the  first  man  from  paradise.  Thus  by  one 
perpetual  spring  the  whole  terraqueous  globe  was  rendered  one 
universal  paradise ;  all  nature  Avas  m  her  infancy,  spoi'tive  and 
smiling:. 

*  "Hesiod  thus  speaks  of  the  different  ages.  First,  he  tells  us,  the 
Olympic  gods  made  the  golden  ?■«<;«— good,  perfect,  and  happy — men  who 
lived  from  the  spontaneous  abundance  of  the  earth,  in  ease  and'  tranquillity, 
like  the  gods  themselves ;  they  suffered  neither  disease  nor  old  age,  and 
their  death  was  like  a  gentle  sleep.-  After  death  they  became,  by  the  award 
of  Zeus  (or  Jupiter),  guardian  terrestrial  dsemons,  who  watch  unseen  over 
the  proceedings  of  mankind— with  the  regal  privilege  of  dispensing  to  them 
wealth,  and  taking  account  of  good  and  bad  deeds.     Next,  the  gods  made 


ANCIKNT    CIVILIZATION.  333 

"  Had  not  a  perpetual  spring*  surrounded  the  earth,  it  could 
never,  in  its  numerous  vicissitudes,  have  received  such  a  variety 
of  seeds,  nor  for  so  long  a  time  beyond  the  age  of  infancy  have 
prolonged  its  existence,  after  having  received  life,  as  it  were,  in 
the  womb  of  its  mother ;  hence  a  perpetual  spring  was  the  most 
efficacious,  and  almost  the  only  means  by  which  the  generation 
of  things  could  have  been  promoted.  It  was  commanded  at  the 
creation  of  the  world,  that  the  soil  should  bring  forth  its  seeds, 
the  seeds  its  germs  and  tender  shoots,  the  sea  its  fishes,  and  the 
earth  its  animals,  not  to  mention  other  things  which  indicate  that 
the  Omnipotent  produced  and  perfected  the  world  by  the  use  of 
media,  which  we  may  from  reason  presume  to  have  been  those 
innumerable  vicissitudes,  and  that  perpetual  spring,  by  which 
alone  the  various  objects  of  the  world  could  have  been  brought 
into  being. 

"  When,  therefore,  this  globe  had  luxuriated  in  its  various 
vegetable  productions,  and  animals  of  all  kinds  had  come  into 
being,  then  was  the  first  man  introduced  into  paradise,  ha\ang 

the  silver  race — unlike  and  greatly  inferior,  both  in  mind  and  body,  to  the 
golden. 

"Thirdly,  Zeus  made  the  hrazen  race — -quite  different  from  the  silver. 
Next  was  created  a  fourth  race,  far  better  and  juster  than  the  last  preceding. 
These  were  the  heroes  and  demi-gods  who  fought  at  the  sieges  of  Troy  and 
Thebes.  But  this  splendid  stock  also  became  extinct;  some  perished  in 
war,  others  were  removed  by  Zeus  to  a  happier  state  in  the  islands  of  the 
blest.  The  fifth  race,  which  succeeds  to  the  heroes,  is  of  iron — it  is  the  nioo 
to  which  the  poet  belongs,  and  bitterly  does  he  regret  it.  He  finds  his  con- 
temporaries mischievous,  dishonest,  unjust,  ungrateful,  given  to  perjury, 
careless  both  of  the  ties  of  consanguinity  and  of  the  behests  of  the  gods  ! 
Nemensis  and  ^dos  (ethical  self-reproach)  have  left  earth,  and  gone  back  to 
Olympus.  This  iron  race  is  doomed  to  continual  guilt,  care,  and  suflfering, 
with  a  small  infusion  of  good  ;  but  the  time  will  come  when  Zeus  will  put 
an  end  to  it. 

"Such  is  the  scries  of  distinct  i-aces  of  men  which  Hesiod,  or  the  author 
of  the  '  Works  and  Days,'  enumerates  as  having  existed  down  to  his  own 
time." — Hi^t.  of  Greece,  G.  Grote,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  88,  90. 

*  In  Siberia  the  remains  of  tropical  plants  and  animals  liave  been  found, 
which,  with  the  ancient  ruins  discovered,  permits  the  inference  that  at  one 
time  not  only  were  the  wastes  of  the  country  inhabited,  but  also  that  the 
climate  was  entirely  different.  Perhaps  (and  who  can  assert  to  the  contrary  ?) 
the  land  of  ice  and  snow  was  once  fanned  by  the  breezes  of  a  "perpetual 
spring."  Mr.  Lyell,  in  his  Principles  of  Geology,  tays,  "  On  considering  the 
facts  above  enumerated,  it  seems  reasonable  to  imagine  that  a  large  region 
in  Central  Asia,  including,  perhaps,  the  southern  half  of  Siberia,  enjoyed  at 
no  very  remote  period  in  the  earth's  history  a  temperate  climate,  sufficiently 
mild  to  afford  food  for  numerous  herds  of  elephants  and  rhinoceros  of  spo- 
cicB  distinct  Irora  those  now  iiviiig." — See  Vol.  I.,  chap,  vi.,  p.  146.* 


334  APPENDIX. 

been  created  into  all  the  harmony  of  the  visible  world,  being 
made  partaker  of  a  more  subtile,  or  of  a  rational  aura,  in  order 
that  he  might  know  how  to  render  the  various  parts  of  creation 
around  him  still  more  perfect,  by  doing  what  could  not  be 
effected  except  through  the  medium  of  a  living  and  rational 
agent  endowed  with  a  material  body — a  being  who  should  enjoy 
the  charms  and  varieties  of  nature — who  should  learn  wisdom 
in  order  that  he  might  know  to  reverence,  love,  and  worship  that 
infinitely  wise  God  Avho  is  the  author  and  builder  of  the  imiverse, 
and  whose  better  and  more  refined  nature,  though  clothed  with 
a  material  garment,  might  aspire  even  to  heaven  itself."  He 
adds,  "  O  man !  how  happy,  thiice  happy  thy  destiny — to  be 
bom  to  the  joys  both  of  earth  and  heaven!"* 


APPENDIX    C 


THE   ORIGIN    OF   IDOLATROUS   WORSHIP. 

It  has  often  appeared  to  many  as  strange  and  incredible,  that 
nations  so  civilized  as  the  Grecians,  Romans,  and  others,  should 
ever  have  allowed  themselves  to  be  so  deluded  as  to  worship 
statues  and  images.  But  in  regard  to  this  subject,  and  indeed 
all  idol-worship,  Swedenborg  has  given  an  explanation  Avhich  ex- 
hibits the  mysteiy ;  for  he  informs  us  that  the  whole  arose  from 
an  abuse  of  the  science  of  correspondences.  According  to  him, 
in  the  primitive  ages  statues  and  sculptures  were  made,  not  for 
the  purpose  of  worshipping,  but  with  the  design  of  embodying 
and  giving  a  reality  to  fleeting  thoughts,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
recalling  sacred  subjects.  Thus,  they  had  in  their  mind  an  ideal 
representation  of  innocence,  and  embodied  the  same  by  carving 
and  sculpturing  a  dove  or  lamb,  which,  when  it  was  seen,  re- 
called, and  vividly,  the  sentiment  which  it  represented.  It  was 
the  same  in  regard  to  the  statue  of  the  human  form ;  this  being 
the  embodiment  of  all  the  virtues,  represented  and  recalled  the 

*  Prineipia,  Vol.  II.,  p.  381. 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    IDOLATROUS    WORSHIP,  335 

virtues  themselves.  But  as  the  race  lapsed  into  evil  and  igno- 
rance, they  forgot  what  these  images  represented,  and  from  view- 
ing them  as  their  ancestors  did,  worshipped  them  as  gods,  and 
beings  who  had  life  and  power. 

Swedenborg,  in  his  "  True  Christian  Religion,"  thus  mentions 
the  subject : 

"  That  the  idolatries  of  the  Gentile  nations  in  ancient  times  de- 
rived their  origin  from  the  science  of  correspondences  was,  be- 
cause all  things  which  appear  on  the  earth  correspond  ;  thus,  not 
only  trees,  but  also  beasts  and  birds  of  every  kind,  also  fishes  and 
other  things.  The  ancients,  who  were  in  the  science  of  corre- 
spondences, made  for  themselves  images,  which  corresponded  to 
heavenly  things,  and  were  delighted  with  them  because  they  sig- 
nified such  things  as  were  of  heaven  and  the  Church ;  and  there- 
fore they  put  them  not  only  in  their  temples,  but  also  in  their 
houses  ;  not  for  the  sake  of  worshipping  them,  but  of  calling  to 
mind  the  heavenly  things  which  they  signified.  Thence  in  Egypt, 
and  elsewhere,  there  were  images  of  calves,  oxen,  serpents,  also  of 
boys,  old  men,  and  virgins ;  because  calves  and  oxen  signified  the 
affections  and  powers  of  the  natural  man  ;  serpents,  the  prudence 
and  also  the  cmming  of  the  sensual  man ;  boys,  innocence  and 
charity ;  old  men,  wisdom  ;  and  virgins,  affections  of  truth,  and 
so  on.     Then-  posterity,  when  thp  science  of  correspondences* 

*  "All  things,"  says  Swedenborg,  speaking  of  correspondences,  "which 
are  of  the  earth  are  distinguished  into  three  kinds,  wliich  are  called  king- 
doms :  namely,  the  animal  kingdom,  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  the  min- 
eral kingdom.  The  things  which  are  in  the  animal  kingdom  are  correspond- 
ences in  the  first  degree,  because  they  live ;  those  which  are  in  the  vegetable 
kingdom  are  correspondences  in  the  second  degree,  because  they  only  grow; 
those  which  arc  in  the  mineral  kingdom  are  correspondences  in  the  third 
degree,  because  they  do  not  live  nor  grow.  The  correspondences  in  the 
animal  kingdom  are  living  creatures  of  various  kinds,  both  those  which 
walk  and  creep  upon  the  earth,  and  those  which  fly  in  the  air,  which  are 
not  specifically  named  here,  because  they  are  known.  The  correspondences 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom  arc  all  things  which  grow  and  flourish  in  gardens, 
forests,  fields,  and  plains,  which  also  are  not  named,  because  they  too  are 
known.  The  correspondences  in  the  mineral  kingdom  are  the  more  noble 
and  the  baser  metals,  precious  stones,  and  those  which  are  not  precious, 
and  earths  of  various  kinds,  and  also  waters.  Besides  these,  there  are  also 
correspondences,  which  by  human  industry  are  prepared  from  them  for  use, 
as  food  of  every  kind,  garments,  houses,  edifices,  and  other  things. 

"  The  things  which  are  above  the  earth,  as  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars, 
and  also  those  which  are  in  the  atmospheres,  as  clouds,  mists,  rain,  light- 
nings, thunders,  are  also  correspondences.     The  things  which  proceed 


336  APPENDIX. 

was  obliterated,  began  to  worship  as  holy,  and  at  length  as  dei- 
ties, the  images  and  resemblances  set  up  by  the  ancients,  because 
they  were  in  their  temples  and  about  them.  Thence,  also,  the 
ancients  had  worship  in  gardens  and  in  groves,  according  to  the 
sorts  of  trees ;  and  also  upon  mountains  and  hills ;  for  gardens 
and  groves  signified  wisdom  and  intelligence,  and  every  tree 
something  of  these ;  as  the  olive,  the  good  of  love ;  the  vine, 
truth  from  that  good  ;  the  cedar,  rational  good ,  and  truth  ;  a 
movmtain,  the  highest  heaven;  and.  a  hill,  the  heaven  under 
that." 

That  the  science  of  correspondences  continued,  amongst  many 
of  the  Eastern  nations,  even  to  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  is  also 
evinced  by  the  wise  men  from  the  East,  who  came  to  the  Lord 
when  he  was  born ;  wherefore  a  star  went  before  them,  and  they 
carried  with  them  gifts,  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh.  An  emi- 
nent New  Churchman*  on  this  subject  says : 

"  We  know  that  Pythagoras  had  an  inner  and  secret  doctnne, 
never  published,  and  taught  only  in  private  to  the  initiated  under 
the  most  solemn  obligation  of  secrecy.  Is  it  too  much  to  sup- 
pose that  these  two  doctrines,  the  inner  and  the  outev,  had  some 
relation  to  each  other  ?  What  would  he  have  gained  by  teach- 
ing the  doctrine  (of  transmigration)  as  we  have  stated  it  above, 
to  the  gross  and  grovelling  world  about  him?  What  better 
thing  could  he  do  than  to  teach  them  the  same  truth  in  the  low- 
er form  of  the  metempsychosis,  as  he  gave  it  to  the  public  ? 

"  On  similar  grounds  I  account  for  the  universal  prevalence  of 
the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis,  which  Pythagoras  himself  de- 
rived from  Egypt.  Apply  this  law  to  the  Bible,  and  we  shall 
come   to  the   result   already  stated :    that   observance   of  the 

from  tlie  sun,  and  its  preseiace  jtnd  absence,  as  light  and  sliade,  lieat  and 
cold,  are  also  correspondences;  and  likewise  those  which  thence  exist  in 
succession,  as  the  seasons  of  the  year,  which  are  called  Spring,  Summer, 
Autumn,  and  Winter;  and  the  times  of  the  day,  as  morning,  noon,  evening, 
and  night. 

"  In  a  word,  all  things  which  exist  in  nature,  from  the  least  to  the  great- 
est, are  correspondences.  That  thoy  are  correspontlences,  is  because  the 
natural  world,  with  all  its  things,  exists  and  subsists  from  the  spiritual 
world,  and  both  from  the  Divine.  It  is  said  that  it  also  subsists,  because 
every  thing  subsists  from  that  from  which  it  exists  ;  for  subsistence  is  per- 
petual existence ;  and  because  not  any  thing  can  subsist  from  itself,  but 
from  something  prior  to  itself,  thus  from  the  First,  from  whom  therefore  if 
it  be  separated  it  utterly  perishes  and  vanishes."— H.  and  H.,  pp.  53,  54, 

*  Theophilus  Parsons. 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    IDOLATROUS    WORSHIP.  337 

precepts  of  the  literal  sense  is  precisely  the  way  in  which  we 
may  be  elevated  into  the  purer  atmosphere,  where  the  voice  of 
an  inner  law  may  be  heard. 

"  So,  too,  there  are  applications  of  the  science  of  correspond- 
ence to  the  ancient  classical  mythology,  which  often  makes  it 
significant.  Sisyphus  and  Tantalus,  and  the  like,  are  no  longer 
the  wild  ana  meaningless  creations  of  phantasy,  and  we  can  under- 
stand their  permanence,  and  charm,  and  power,  amid  the  beauti- 
ful cultivation  of  the  Greek  mind.  Pegasus,  the  winged  horse, 
again  alights  upon  Helicon,  and  opens  a  new  Hippocrene,  and 
again  Minerva  tames  his  fire,  and  gives  him  to  the  warrior  who  is 
called  to  do  battle  with  the  monster  Chimaera."* 

The  subject  is  further  elucidated  by  G.  Grote,  in  his  History 
of  Greece,  Vol.  L,  chap,  xvi.,  p.  5*79.     He  informs  us,  that 

"  The  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  myths  has  been  by  sev- 
eral learned  investigators,  especially  by  Creuzer,  connected  with 
the  hypothesis  of  an  ancient  and  highly  instructed  body  of  priests, 
having  their  origin  either  in  Egypt  or  in  the  East,  and  communi- 
cating to  the  rude  and  barbarous  Greeks  religious,  physical,  and 
historical  knowledge,  under  the  veil  of  symbols.  At  a  time  (we 
are  told)  when  language  was  yet  in  its  infancy,  visible  symbols 
Avere  the  most  vivid  means  of  acting  upon  the  minds  of  ignorant 
hearers.  The  next  step  Avas  to  pass  to  symbolical  language  and 
expressions ;  for  a  plain  and  literal  exposition,  even  if  understood 
at  all,  Avould  at  least  have  been  listened  to  Avitli  indifference,  as 
not  corresponding  Avith  any  mental  demand.  In  such  allegoriz- 
ing Avay,  then,  tlie  early  priests  set  forth  their  doctrines  respect- 
ing God,  nature,  and  humanity — a  refined  monotheism  and  theo- 
logical philosophy — and  to  this  purpose  the  earliest  myths  Avere 
turned.  But  another  class  of  myths,  more  popular  and  more 
captivating,  grew  up  under  the  hands  of  the  poets — myths 
purely  epical,  and  descriptiA^e  of  real  or  supposed  past  events. 
The  allegorical  myths  being  taken  up  by  tlie  poets,  insensibly 
became  confounded  in  the  same  category  with  the  purely  narra- 
tive myths ;  the  matter  symbolized  Avas  no  longer  thought  of, 
while  the  symbolizing  words  came  to  be  construed  in  their  own 
literal  meaning,  and  the  basis  of  the  early  allegory  thus  lost 

*  "The  most  aucient  theology,"  says  Plutarch,  "both  of  the  Greeks  and 
barbarians,  was  natural  philosophy  involved  in  fables,  that  physically  and 
mystically  conveyed  the  truth  to  the  learned ;  as  appears  from  the  poems  of 
Orpheus,  the  Egyptian  rites,  and  the  Phrygian  traditions." 

22 


338  APPENDIX. 

among  the  general  public,  was  only  preserved  as  a  secret  among 
various  religious  fraternities,  composed  of  members  allied  togeth- 
er by  initiation  in  certain  mystical  ceremonies,  and  administered 
by  hereditary  families  of  presiding  priests. 

"^  "  In  the  Orphic  and  Bacchic  sects,  in  the  Eleusinian  and  Sa- 
mothracian  mysteries,  was  thus  treasured  up  the  secret  doctrine 
of  the  old  theological  and  philosophical  myths  which  had  once 
constituted  the  primitive  legendaiy  stock  of  Greece  in  the  hands 
of  the  oi'iginal  priesthood,  and  in  ages  anterior  to  Homer.  Per- 
sons whohad  gone  through  the  preliminary  ceremonies  of  initia- 
tion, were  permitted  at  "length  to  hear,  though  under  secret 
obligation  of  secrecy,  this  ancient  religion  and  cosmogonic  doc- 
trine, revealing  the  destination  of  man  and  the  certainty  of  post- 
humous rewards  and  punishments,  all  disengaged  from  the 
corruptions  of  poets,  as  well  as  from  the  symbols  and  allegories 
under  which  they  still  remained  buried  in  the  eyes  of  the  vulgar. 
The  mysteries  of  Greece  were  thus  traced  up  to  the  earliest  ages, 
and  represented  as  the  only  faithful  depositories  of  that  purer 
theology  and  physics  which  had  originally  been  communicated, 
though  under  the  unavoidable  inconvenience  of  a  symbolical  ex- 
pression, by  an  enlightened  priesthood  coming  from  abroad  to 
the  then  rude  barbarians  of  the  country."* 

Swedenborg  infonns  us,  that  from  this  ancient  Priesthood  and 
Word,  Moses  received  his  infonnation  concerning  creation,  and 
copied  the  allegoiy  which  is-  narrated  in  the  first  chapters  of 
Genesis. 

*  "  It  is  a  very  common  theory,  that  the  physical  is  earliest,  tlie  moral 
and  theological  of  an  after  growth.  A  truer  view,  we  think,  reverses  this — 
makes  spiritual  and  moral  ideas  the  more  ancient,  and  the  physical  tendency 
with  the  historical  legendary  corruptions,  the  result  of  that  subsequent  de- 
generacy from  man's  primitive  state,  which  seems  clearly  taught  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  is  described  by  the  Apostle  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Eo- 
mans. 

"  The  moral  aspect  has  been  greatly  obscured,  and  yet  it  remains  capable 
of  being  traced.  In  some  parts  it  is  so  visible  that  it  would  seem  difficult 
to  mistake  it.  It  may  be  seen,  as  has  been  already  observed  in  many  of  the 
epithets  of  Zeus  employed  by  Homer  and  the  Grecian  tragic  poets.  It  is 
strongly  manifested  in  that  whole  department  of  mythology  which  has  ref- 
erence to  the  infernal  deities ;  although  upon  this  much  of  the  physical  was 
afterwards  superinduced.  It  flashes  out  upon  the  moral  sense  in  the  won- 
drous fable  of  the  avenging  Furies.  It  appears  in  the  striking  personifica- 
tions of  Nemensis,  of  Adraste,  and  of  the  ancient  Themis,  who  is  repre- 
sented with  the  sword  and  scales,  and  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  eternal 
Justice  in  the  heavens."— >b€«  Introduction,  ly  Prof.  T.  Lewis,  to  Grecian  and 
Bornan  Mytlwlogy. 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    IDOLATROUS    WORSHIP.  339 

The  thouffht  has  often  occurred,  in  readincr  the  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  ancient  Greeks  and  others  were  instructed, 
how  Avell  it  compares  with  the  manner  in  which  the  Bible  has 
for  years  been  taught.  Mr.  G.  asserts  that  at  one  time  visible 
symbols  were  the  most  \ivid  means  of  acting  upon  the  minds  of 
ignorant  hearers ;  and  we  ask,  Is  not  this  the  method  taken  in 
the  Scriptures  ?  It  is  certainly  true  that  the  representation 
of  futui-e  punishment  (among  many  other  things),  by  a  fur- 
nace and  lake  of  fire,  cannot  be  otherwise  considered  than  as 
a  visible  symbol,  and  the  most  vivid  means  of  acting  upon  sensu- 
ous minds.  Again,  in  respect  to  what  is  said  in  regard  to  plain 
hteral  exposition  of  truth,  the  coirespondence  holds  good ;  for 
it  is  well  known  that  if  naked  truth  were  exhibited  it  would  be  too 
dazzling  for  the  majority,  and  would  be  rejected,  or  hstened  to 
with  indifference.  And  of  what  is  said  in  regard  to  the  Eleusinian 
and  Samothracian  mysteries,  of  those  initiated  possessing  the 
truth  and  a  knowledge  of  the  destiny  of  man,  and  the  certainty 
of  posthumous  rewards  and  punishments,  all  disengaged  from 
symbols  and  allegories,  how  well  does  the  representation  concui' 
with  the  views  which  we  have  advanced,  and  with  a  c^tain 
brotherhood  who  now  exist,  and  who  know  they  possess  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  destiny  of  man,  and  the  certainty  of  future  rewards 
and  .punishments,  all  disengaged  from  the  myths  and  allegories 
of  the  Scriptiu-es !  Yet  in  vain  have  they  called  others  to  witness 
it ;  and  as  well  might  Pythagoras  and  his  disciples  have  at- 
tempted to  accomplish  impossibilities,  as  the  New  Churchman  to 
expect  that  the  truths  of  the  New  Dispensation  or  the  Sci- 
ence of  Correspondences  will  by  the  present  generation  be  re- 
ceived or  examined  ;  for  the  literature  of  the  day,  even  the  v/rit- 
ings  of  the  most  eminent  and  distinguished,  inform  us  that  the 
S}Tnbolizing  words  are  only  understood  in  the  hteral  sense ;  and 
pictorial  representations  of  the  myths  and  allegories  are  every- 
where delineated.  The  tree  of  good  and  evil  is  represented,  and 
Adam  and  Eve  are  seen  listening  to  a  speaking  serpent !  And 
to  assert  and  generally  teach  that  it  is  an  allegoiy — that  there  is 
a  hidden  meaning — would,  we  fear,  not  only  be  counteracting  the 
precepts  of  the  Scriptures,  but  be  casting  pearls  before  those 
who  are  ignorant  of  their  value. 


APPENDIX   D. 


THE  DELUGE. 


OtTR  observations  in  respect  to  the  Deluge  are  inferences 
drawn  from  Swedenborg's  writings,  who  informs  us  that  no  uni- 
versal flood  was  ever  witnessed ;  from  the  views  advanced  by 
eminent  geologists,  who  state  that  different  deluges  have  at  vari- 
ous periods  occun-ed ;  and  from  the  traditions  and  archives  of 
heathen  nations,  w^hich  nearly  all  make  mention  of  great  inunda- 
tions having  at  some  period  taken  place.  And  for  the  purpose 
of  exhibiting  how  far  modern  researches  concur  with  Swedenborg 
in  regard  to  the  fact  that  the  first  chaptei-s  of  Gen.esis,  particu- 
larly that  concerning  the  Deluge,  are  a  designed  allegory,  we 
shall  adduce  the  opinions  of  eminent  authorities. 

Mr.  Lyell,  in  his  "Principles  of  Geology,"  thus  alludes  to  the 
subject.  He  commences  by  stating  that  when  fossil  shells  and 
petrified  bones  were  found  buried  at  vast  depths  in  the  interior 
of  mountains,  the  theologian  of  the  age,  in  his  desire  to  defend 
the  literal  sense  of  the  Scriptures,  particvilarly  that  which  had 
relation  to  Noah's  Deluge,  strongly  advocated  the  theoiy  that 
fossil  remains  originated  from  certain  fatty  matter  {inateria  pin- 
guis),  which,  s^t  into  fermentation  by  heat,  gave  birth  to  fossil  or- 
ganic shapes.  "  In  like  manner,  Falloppo  of  Padua  conceived 
that  petrified  shells  w^ere  generated  by  fermentation  in  the  spots 
Avhere  they  are  found,  or  that  they  had  in  some  cases  acquired 
their  form  from  the  tumultuous  movements  of  terrestrial  exhala- 
tions." Although  celebrated  as  a  professor  of  anatomy,  he 
taught  that  "  certain  tusks  of  elephants,  dug  up  in  his  time  in 
Apulia,  were  mere  earthy  concretions ;  and,  consistently  with 
these  principles,  he  even  went  so  far  as  to  consider  it  probable 
that  the  vases  of  Monte  Testaceo,  at  Rome,  were  natiu-al  impres- 
sions stamped  in  the  soil.  In  the  same  spirit  Mercati,  who 
published-,  in  1574,  faithful  fig-ures  of  the  fossil  sheik  preserved 


THE   DELUGE.  341 

by  Pope  Sixtus  V.  in  the  museum  of  the  Vatican,  expressed  an 
opinion  that  they  were  mere  stones,  which  had  assumed  their  pe- 
cuUar  configuration  from  the  influence  of  the  heavenly  bodies ; 
and  Ohvi  of  Cremona,  who  described  the  fossil  remains  of  a  rich 
museum  at  Verona,  was  satisfied  with  considering  them  as  '  mere 
sports  of  nature.' " 

Mr.  Lyell  states  that  at  this  period,  and  for  many  years  after, 
"  those  who  refused  to  subscribe  to  the  position  that  all  marine 
organic  remains  were  proofs  of  the  Mosaic  deluge,  tvere  exposed 
to  the  imputation  of  disbelieving  the  whole  of  the  sacred  ivritingsy 
He  adds,  that  '*  more  than  a  hundred  years  were  lost  in  writing 
down  the  dogma  that  organized  fossils  Avere  the  mere  sports  of 
natui'e ;  and  that  an  additional  23cnod  of  a  century  and  a  half 
teas  consumed  in  exploding  the  h)jpothesis,  that  organized  fossils 
had  all  been  buried  in  the  solid  strata  btj  the  J^oachian  flood." — 
(See  Vol.  I.,  p.  43.) 

Again  he  says,  in  reference  to  this  subject,  that  "  when  geology 
was  first  cultivated,  it  was  a  general  belief  that  these  marine 
shells  and  other  fossils  were  the  effects  and  proofs  of  the  general 
deluge ;  but  all  who  have  carefully  investigated  the  phenomena 
have  long  rejected  this  doctrine.  A  transient  flood  might  be  sup- 
posed to  leave  behind  it,  here  and  there  upon  the  surface,  scat- 
tered heaps  of  mud,  sand,  and  shingle,  with  shells  confusedly  in- 
termixed ;  but  the  strata  containing  fossils  are  not  superficial 
dejMsits,  and  do  not  cover  the  earth,  but  constitute  the  entire  mass 
of  mountains.  Nor  are  the  fossils  mingled  without  reference  to 
the  habits  of  the  creatures,  certain  groups  or  species  being  often 
found  in  groups  unassociated  with  any  other."*. 

*  In  reference  to  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  whicli  are  supposed  to  afford  some 
idea  of  the  age  of  the  earth,  Mr.  Lyell  observes,  that  "it  has  been  a  very 
general  opinion  that  the  Falls  were  once  at  Queenston,  and  that  (by  a  con- 
tinued removal  of  the  shale  and  undermining  of  the  limestone)  they  have 
gradually  retrograded  from  that  to  their  present  position,  about  seven  miles 
distant.  For  the  table-land,  extending  from  Queenston  to  Lake  Erie,  con- 
sists uniformly  of  the  same  geological  formations  as  are  now  exfiosed  to  view 
at  the  Falls.  The  upper  deposit  is  a  fresh-water  formation,  consisting  chiefly 
of  gravel,  containing  fragments  of  limestone  and  other  transported  rocks." 

In  regard  to  the  time  employed  in  the  excavation  of  the  ravine,  we 
are  informed  by  Mr.  L.  that  "no  certain  calculation  can  be  made,  but  that 
Mr.  Bakewell  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  if  the  recession  of  the  Falls  had 
always  proceeded  at  the  rate  of  about  fifty  yards  in  forty  years  (as  Mr.  B. 


342  APPENDIX. 

Another  distinguished  writer,  Dr.  Buckland,  observes : 

"  The  disappointment  of  those  who  look  for  a  detailed  account 
of  geological  phenomena  in  the  Bible,  rests  on  the  gratuitous  ex- 
pectation of  tinding  therein  historical  information  respecting  all 
the  operations  of  the  Creator,  in  times  and  places  with  which  the 
human  race  has  no  concern ;  as  reasonably  might  we  object  that 
the  Mosaic  history  is  imperfect,  because  it  makes  no  specific 
mention  of  the  satelhtes  of  Jupiter,  or  the  rings  of  Saturn,  as  feel 
disappointment  at  not  finding  in  it  the  history  of  geological  phe- 
nomena, the  details  of  which  ma,j  he  fit  matter  for  a  scientific  en- 
cyclopcedia,  but  are  foreign  to  the  objects  of  a  volume  intended  only 
to  be  a  guide  of  religious  belief  and  moral  conduct. 

"  We  may  fairly  ask  of  those  persons  Avho  consider  physical 
science  a  fit  subject  for  revelation,  what  point  they  can  imagine 
short  of  a  communication  of  Omniscience,  at  which  siich  a  reve- 
lation might  have  stopped  without  imperfections  of  omission,  less 
in  degree,  but  similar  in  kind,  to  that  which  they  impute  to 
Moses  ? 

"  A  revelation  of  so  much  only  of  astronomy  as  was  known  to 
Copernicus,  would  have  seemed  imperfect  after  the  discoveries  of 
Newton ;  and  a  revelation  of  the  science  of  Newton  would  have 
appeared  defeg,tive  to  La  Place  ;  a  revelation  of  all  the  chemical 
knowledge  of  the  eighteenth  centuiy  would  have  been  as  deficient 
in  comparison  with  the  information  of  the  present  day,  as  what  is 
now  known  in  this  science  will  probably  appear  before  the  termi- 
nation of  another  age. 

"  In  the  Avhole  circle  of  sciences  there  is  not  one  to  which  this 
argument  may  not  be  extended,  until  we  should  require  from 
revelation  a  full  development  of  all  the  mysterious  agencies  that 
uphold  the  mechanism  of  the  material  world.  Such  a  revelation 
might,  indeed,  be  suited  to  beings  of  a  more  exalted  order  than 
mankind,  but  unless  human  nature  had  been  constituted  otherwise 
than  it  is,  the  above  sujyjiosed  communication  of  Omniscience  would 
have  been  imimrted,  to  creatures  iitterly  incapable  of  receiving  it, 
under  the  present  moral  or  2)hysical  condition  of  the  human  race  ; 
and  would  have  been  also  at  variance  with  the  design  of  all 
God's  other  disclosures  of  himself,  the  end  of  which  has  uniformly 
been,  not  to  impart  intellectual,  but  moral  knowledge." — Buck- 
land's  Geology,  Vol.  I. 


says  he  has  ascertained  it  has),  itw-ould  have  required  nearly  ten  tTiousand 
years  far  the  excavation  of  the  whole  ravine.''^— {See  Principles  of  Geology, 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  343-345.) 


THE   DELUGE.  343 

In  Kitto's  Biblical  Encyclopaedia,  a  standard  work,  we  find  the 
followins:  concerning  the  figfurative  lancruaofe  used  in  Genesis.  It 
is  asserted  that  the  literal  account  of  creation  was  not  designed 
to  tea/:h  the  Israelites  such  deep  points  of  philosophy  as  the  true 
motions  of  the  earth  and  moon,  but  rather  was  designed  to  teach 
them  to  reverence  the  great  Creator,  and  also  to  preserve  them 
from  the  idolatry  of  the  heathen  nations  around  them,  who  wor- 
shipped the  sun  and  moon ;  and  that  the  account  of  the  creation 
is  given  for  the  use  of  the  people  "  in  such  words  and  phrases  as 
were  suited  to  vulgar  conceptions." 

The  writer  observes  :  "  In  speaking  of  the  Scripture  narra- 
tive, we  have  already  remarked  its  striking  characteristics,  as  a 
composition — this,  of  course,  applies  in  detail  to  the  narrative  in 
Genesis  ;  but  the  brief  statement  in  the  Decalogue  preserves  also, 
as  far  as  it  goes,  the  same  features.  No  reader  of  the  Scriptures, 
especially  of  the  Old  Testament,  can  be  otherwise  than  aware  of 
the  entire  system  which  pervades  all  its  representations,  more  or 
less,  of  adaptation  in  the  manner  of  expression,  form  of  imagery, 
and  the  like,  to  the  apprehension,  the  prejudices,  and  previous  be- 
lief of  the  Jewish  people ;  nay,  the  whole  dispensation,  in  all  its 
parts  and  institutions,  is  but  one  grand  exemplification  of  the  same 
theory.  And  this  character  in  it  we  find  expressly  recognized 
and  dwelt  upon  by  our  Lord  and  his  apostles  in  addressing  that 
people,  as  the  very  ground  of  argument  for  introducing  to  those 
Avho  were  then  living  under  the  law  a  better  and  more  spiritual 
religion :  Moses,  because  of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts,  gave  you 
this  jyrecept. — (Matt.  xix.  8.) 

"  The  law  was  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  them  to  Christ  (Gal. 
iii.  24) — a  scheme  of  insti-uction  and  education  (as  it  were)  suited 
to  their  capacities,  and  accommodated  to  their  apprehensions. 
And  not  to  dwell  on  instances  which  can  only  be  accounted  for 
as  adaptatio7is  of  this  kind,  such  as  the  various  sanguinaiy  enact- 
ments, the  visitation  of  sin  on  the  posterity  of  the  offender,  the 
toleration  of  polygamy,  the  extreme  facility  of  divorce,  and  the 
like,  we  cannot  but  recognize  a  similar  object,  as  well  in  the 
general  anthropopathism  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  in  more  es- 
pecial instances  of  many  parts  of  those  compositions  in  which 
poetic  imagery,  parable,  and  apologue  were  employed ;  and  it  is, 
therefore,  nothing  at  variance  with  the  nature  or  design  of  that 


344  APPENDIX. 

revelation,  but  rather  eminently  conformable  to  it,  to  suppose 
that  in  other  instances  similar  forms  of  narrative  may  have  been 
adopted  in  like  manner  as  the  vehicles  of  religious  instruction, 
still  less  to  admit  that  they  may  have  long  been  mistaken  for 

HISTORICAL  matter-of-fact  STATEMENTS. 

"  If,  then,  we  would  avoid  the  alternative  (otherwise  inc^^table) 
of  being  compelled  to  admit  what  must  amount  to  impugning  the 
truth  of  these  portions  («'.  e.,  the  account  of  the  creation  of  the 
world),  at  least  of  the  Old  Testament,  we  surely  are  bound  to 
give  fan-  consideration  to  the  ob'y  suggestion  which  can  set  us 
entirely  free  from  all  the  difficulties  arising  from  tlie  geological 
contradiction,  which  does  and  must  exist  against  any  conceivable 
interpretation  which  retains  the  assertion  of  the  historical  charac- 
ter of  the  details  of  the  narrative,  as  referring  to  the  distinct  trans- 
action of  each  of  the  seven  periods. 

"  The  one  grand  fact,  couched  in  the  genercd  assertion  that  all 
■  things  loere  created  hy  the  sole  power  of  one  Supreme  Being,  is 

THE  WHOLE    OF    THE    REPRESENTATION    TO  WHICH    AN    HISTORICAL 

CHARACTER  CAN  BE  ASSIGNED.  As  to  the  particular  form  in 
which  the  descriptive  narrative  is  conveyed,  we  merely  affirm 

that  IT  CANNOT  BE  HISTORY IT   MAY   BE   POETRY." (See  KittOS 

Bih.  Ency.,  Art.  Creation.) 

Another  distinguished  writer  and  theologian,  the  Rev.  John 
Pye  Smith,  in  his  work  on  the  Relation  between  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures and  Geology,  amves  at  nearly  the  same  conclusions  in  re- 
spect to  the  figurative  and  allegorical  language  of  the  first  chap- 
ters of  Genesis.  In  p.  214,  he  says  that,  with  regard  to  the 
figure  of  the  earth,  its  relation  to  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  its 
motion  or  immobility,  as  far  as  he  has  been  able  to  ascertain, 
"  no  direct  information  does  occur  in  the  Scriptures  upon  these 
subjects." 

Again,  in  reference  to  the  beUef  held  by  some,  that  light  and 
vegetation  existed  before  the  sun,  he  obsen-es,  that  "  those  who 
adopt  this  hypothesis,  either  with  or  ^vithout  the  modification  an- 
nexed to  it,  are  not  perhaps  aware  that  the  spheroidal  figure  of 
the  earth,  its  position  in  the  planetary  system,  its  rotation  pro- 
ducing the  nights  and  days  which  the  Mosaic  narrative  expressly 
lays  do^vn  in  numerical  succession,  the  existence  of  water,  and  that 
of  an  atmosphere,  both  definitely  mentioned,  and  the  creation  of 


THE    DELUGE.  345 

vegetables  in  the  third  day,  necessarily  imply  the  presence  and 
the  operations  of  the  sun." 

In  Vol.  XLI.,  p.  9,  of  Silliman's  Journal,  we  find  the  following 
concerning  Dr.  Smith,  exhibiting  the  estimation  in  which  he  is 
held  in  this  country.  After  speaking  of  the  high  character  of 
Dr.  S.  as  a  religious  man,  a  learned  theologian,  and  a  distinguished 
lecturer,  of  his  great  anxiety  to  reconcile  the  facts  of  geology  with 
the  Mosaic  history,  and  of  the  writer's  sympathy  with  his  views, 
the  article  adds,  that  "  he  has  not,  like  some  theologians,  neglected, 
avoided,  or  sluiTed  over  the  facts.  He  has  met  them  in  their  full 
force.  .  .  .  He  has  rendered  a  signal  service  to  science  and  reli- 
gion, by  meeting  this  subject  in  the  fulness  and  richness  of  its 
evidence,  in  the  splendor  and  deep  researches  of  its  discoveries. 
With  admirable  candor  and  perfect  comprehension  of  his  materials, 
he  has  disposed  of  them  with  masterly  skill.  This  work,  if  we 
mistake  not,  will  do  more  than  any  other  has  done  to  disabuse  the 
religious  world  of  their  unreasonable  fears  of  geology^-to  place 
it  side  by  side  with  astronomy,  the  only  physical  science  which 
excels  it  in  grandeur ;  and  to  prove  that  only  dark  and  limited 
views  can  make  us  fear  the  development  of  truth  in  every  depart- 
ment of  the  works  of  the  infinite  Creator." 

Such  is  the  character  given  by  one  who  is  capable  of  estimating 
Dr.  Smith ;  and  as  his  recent  work  has  passed  through  several 
editions,  and  arrives  at  conclusions  which  are  generally  admitted 
by  geologists  of  this  country,  we  shall  further  cite  them. 

Dr.  S.  prefaces  his  observations,  in  Lecture  HI.,  p.  79,  by  an 
allusion  to  those  clergymen  who  strongly  insist  that  vegetation 
existed,  and  "  there  was  an  evening  and  morning  during  the  first 
three  days  without  a  sun,"  and  who  avoid  the  difficulty  by  re- 
sorting to  "  the  gratuitous  supposition  of  multiplied  miracles  of 
the  most  astounding  magnitude."  He  observes,  that  "  those  who 
can  satisfy  themselves  ivith  such  siq)j)ositions,  made  without  evi- 
dence, and  at  their  own  good  pleasure,  are  beyond  our  reach  of 
reasoning.  No  difficulty,  no  improbability,  no  natural  impossi- 
bility appals  them.  They  seem  to  have  the  attribute  of  Omnipo- 
tence at  their  command,  to  help)  out  any  hypothesis,  or  answer  any 
exigency.''''  He  adds,  "  But  I  must  confess  that  such  modes  of  re- 
solving difficulties  do  not  approve  themselves  to  mv  conviction. 
The  Creator  has  formed  a  finite  and  dependent  world,  the  extent 


346  APPENDIX. 

and  complication  of  which  overwhelms  our  faculties ;  but,  in  all 
that  extent  and  complication,  we  have  demonstrations  without 
number,  that  the  great  Sovereign  and  Consei-vator  of  the  universe 
rules  it  according  to  a  plan  ;  and  that  plan,  in  its  physical  aspect, 
is  the  one  grand  and  simple  law  of  attraction,  with  its  correlates 
and  consectaries.  A  miracle  is  not  a  destroying,  or  even  a  sus- 
pending of  it ;  it  is  not  an  amending,  or  coiTecting  it ;  it  is  not  a 
break  in  the  chain ;  not  an  occurrence  for  which  no  provision  has 
been  made  in  the  construction  of  the  eternal  purpose."  .... 

Again,  in  p.  213,  he  says :  "  But  it  not  the  less  plainly  follows 
that  it  is  our  duty  to  understand  all  such  passages  in  modes 
which  shall  be  worthy  of  the  dignity  of  God  ;  and  so  to  interpret 
them  as  to  deprive  the  contemners  of  revelation  of  a  pretext  for 
censuring  and  rejecting  it.  Possibly  some  Christian  may  say,  '  I 
\i\\\  not  follow  this  course ;  I  will  take  the  words  of  Scripture  in 
their  immediate  and  obvious  sense,  and  let  difficulties  alone,  per- 
suaded that  all  is  true  and  right,  however  contraiy  to  my  under- 
standing.' If  this  language  proceed  from  piety,  I  honor  its  mo- 
tive; but  I  cannot  regard  the  com'se  as  wise  and  good.  If  you 
do  indeed  resolve  to  take  up  the  figurative  language  of  Scrip- 
ture as  if  it  were  literally  tiaie,  look  w  ell  to  yourself.  Think  what 
consequences  you  are  plunging  into,  what  conceptions  of  the 
Infinite  Majesty  you  are  cherishing  in  your  mind,  and  propagat- 
ing around  you ;  what  effects  they  are  likely  to  have  upon  other 
persons  ;  yes,  your  own  children,  especially  in  the  well-educated 
and  inquiring  classes  of  society ;  and  the  vantage-ground  you  are 
surrendering  to  the  impugners  of  the  Bible,  thus  giving  your  aid 
for  undermining  the  faith  of  probably  the  dearest  to  you  in  this 
world 

"  Examples  have  not  been  wanting  of  complimentary  verbiage, 
with  affected  solemnity,  offered  to  the  Christian  religion;  while 
the  fraternity  of  concealed  unbelievers  can  look  significantly  at 
each  other,  and  mutually  build  up  their  seK-flattery  and  pride,  as 
if  they  were  men  immeasurably  superior  to  the  vulgar,  hut  v)ho  to 
sooth  prejudice,  and  flatter  public  opinion,  are  willing  to  uphold 
a  style  of  conventional  hypocrisy. 

"  But  can  we  not  throw  ourselves  into  the  arms  of  our  brethren 
in  the  faith,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  summarily  dispose  of  the 
whole  matter  ?     We  cannot.     First,  our  own  convictions  stand 


THE    DELUGE.  347 

in  the  way.  The  facts  cannot  he  set  aside,  they  are  too  numerous, 
too  various  and  independent,  and  too  weighty  in  their  character 
as  grounds  of  reasoning.  Secondly,  if  we  could  so  put  off  our 
reasonable  faculties,  the  great  cause  would  not  be  relieved.  It 
would  be  far  more  deeply  injured.  The  hodxj  of  scientific  men 
in  every  country  would  only  be  confirmed  in  their  hostility,  and 
the  more  completely  dischaiged  from  keeping  terms  with  us, 
tvhile  we  should  he  the  men  that  laid  Christianity  under  the  feet 
of  its  adversaries." — (See  p.  271.) 

In  reference  to  the  views  held  by  Catholics  and  Protestants 
two  centuries  prior  to  the  present  period.  Dr.  Smith  observes : 

"The  belief  with  regard  to  the  figure  of  the  earth,  that  it  is  an 
extended  plane,  was  current  among  the  Christian  fathers ;  but 
they  in  general  disapproved  and  avoided  attention  to  physical  sub- 
jects. By  slow  degrees  the  general  docti'ine  of  a  globular  form 
made  its  way  among  men ;  but  to  a  much  later  date,  that  of  the 
immobility  of  the  earth  u'as  strenuously  maintained.  Considera- 
bly within  the  last  two  centuries,  that  opinion  was  the  yeneral  be- 
lief of  all  denominations  of  Christians.  Most  persons  know  that 
threats,  persuasions,  and  a  short  imprisonment  subdued  Galileo, 
and  brought  him  to  make  a  solemn  recantation  of  the  Copernican 
doctrine  ;  and  he  had  to  endure  the  penal  sentence  of  imprison- 
ment for  life.  It  is  hardly  imaginable  that  his  persecutors  could 
believe  in  his  sincerity,  even  had  he  not  declared,  the  moment 
after,  his  retention  of  his  own  belief,  which  he  did.  But  perse- 
cution is  the  parent  of  hypocrisy.  A  consistent  Christian  would 
have  died  rather  than  have  infringed  his  integrity.  Yet,  not 
hurling  condemnation,  but  pitying  the  illustrious  Florentine,  let 
us  turn  his  histor}^  into  a  lesson  for  ourselves.  In  things  of  every 
kind,  earthly  as  well  as  spiritual,  '  godly  simplicity  and  integrity' 
is  the  only  right  course ;  and,  whatever  it  may  cost,  it  will  bring 
happiness  in  the  end.  But  it  is  not  so  much  known  that,  long 
after  that  eVent,  pious  and  learned  Protestants  vieived  Galileo's 
doctrine  with  the  same  alarm  and  abhorrence  as  the  Romish 
Church  professed  to  feel,  and  they  founded  their  determination 
upon  the  following  passages  of  Scripture  : 

'  He  hatli  established  the  earth  ujion  its  foundations  :  it  shall  not  be 
moved  for  ever  and  ever.  For  upon  the  seas  he  hath  founded  it,  and  upon 
the  streams  he  hath  fixed  it.  O  give  tlianks  unto  Him,  who  hath  spread  out 
the  earth  upon  the  waters  !  The  Mount  Zion'  [and  therefore  they  inferred 
the  whole  earth,  of  which  any  hill  or  mountain  is  only  a  part]  'shall  not  bo 


348  APPENDIX. 

moved,  for  ever  and  ever.  Generation  goeth,  and  generation  cometh;  but 
the  earth  for  ever  standeth.  The  sun  rejoiceth  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a 
race.  From  the  end  of  the  heavens  is  his  going  forth,  and  his  circuit  to  their 
uttermost  parts.  Praise  him,  ye  heavens  of  heavens,  and  ye  waters  that  be 
above  the  heavens.  Who  stretcheth  out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain,  who  lay- 
eth  rafters  in  the  waters,  his  upper  chambers.'* 

"Upon  the  interpretation  whicli^men  of  the  highest  ability 
attached  to  these  declarations  of  Scripture,  they  rested  the  most 
positive  confidence,  that  the  sun  files  around  the  earth  every 
twenty-four  hours,  and  that  the  earth  rests  immovably  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  universe.  'This,'  said  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  '  we  affii-m,  with  all  divines,  natural  phi- 
losophers, and  astronomers,  Jews,  and  Mohammedans,  Greeks 
and  Latins ;  excepting  one  or  two  of  the  ancients,  and  the  mod- 
ern followers  of  Copernicus.'f  It  is  in  no  small  degree  curious, 
but  it  conveys  also  a  serious  lesson  to  us,  to  obsene  what  was  a 
very  great  stretch  of  candor  and  charity  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago.  '  That  the  sun  moves  and  that  the  earth  is  at  rest,' 
wrote  another  of  that  class  of  learned  men,  '  is  testified  in  Scrip- 
ture ;  that  the  earth  also  cannot  be  moved,  being,  as  it  were, 
founded  and  fixed  upon  bases,  pedestals,  and  pillars.  Some 
philosophers,  indeed,  both  ancient  and  modern,  and  Copernicus, 
the  most  distinguished  among  them,  have  maintained  the  con- 
trary. Gemma  Frisius  has  taken  pains  to  explain  this  opinion  of 
Copernicus  in  the  most  favorable  manner  that  he  could ;  and 
some  celebrated  philosophers  have  endeavored  to  reconcile  it  to 
the  Bible,  by  considerations  drawn  from  the  ambiguity  and  vari- 
ous use  of  language.  Others  have  recourse  to  the  condescension 
of  the  style  of  Scripture,  which,  upon  matters  that  do  not  affect 
faith  and  religion,  is  wont  to  lisp  and  prattle  like  a  father  with 
his  babes.  But  our  pious  reverence  for  the  Scripture,  the  Woid 
of  trath,  will  not  allow  us  to  depart  from  the  strict  propriety  of 
the  words ;  as  by  so  doing  we  should  be  setting  to  infidels'  an 
example  of  wresting  the  Scriptures ;  unless  we  were  convinced 
by  sure  and  irrefragable  arguments,  as  perhaps  there  may  be  a 
few  so  convinced ;  but  they  are  ambitious  persons,  though  pro- 
fessing to  be  devoted  to  sacred  studies.'"^ — (See  pp.  217-220.) 

Dr.  Smith's  observations  in  reference  to  Xoah's  Ark  and  the 
Deluge,  and  of  the  inationality  of  believing  that  it  covered  the 

*  Ps.  civ.  5;  xxiv.  2;  cxxxvi.  6.'   Eccles.  i.  4.    Ps.  xix.  6;  c.xlvii3.4;  civ.  8. 

+  Gisb.  Voetii  Disput.  TheoL,  Vol.  I.,  p.  637  :  Utrecht,  1648. 

X  Joh.  Henr.  Heideggeri  Med.  Theol.  Christ.,  p.  136 :  Zurich,  1696. 


THE    DELUGE.  349 

whole  earth,  are  so  apphcable,  that  with  Uttle  comment  we  cite 
them.  As  remarked,  a  peculiar  value  should  be  attached  to  Dr. 
Smith's  arguments,  "  they  being  forced  convictions  of  truth 
breaking  forth  from  an  eminent  and  pious  clergyman  of  the  Old 
Church,  and  a  great  and  independent  mind."  In  respect  to  the 
Deluge,  it  is  observed  : 

"  The  mass  of  water  necessary  to  cover  the  whole  globe  to  the 
depth  supposed,  would  be  in  thickness  about  five  miles  above 
the  previous  sea-level.  This  quantity  of  water  might  be  fairly 
calciilated  as  amounting  to  eight  times  that  of  the  seas  and 
oceans  of  tlie  globe,  in  addition  to  the  quantity  already  existing. 
The  question  then  arises,  Whence  was  this  water  derived,  and 
how  Wcis  it  disposed  of  after  its  purpose  was  answered?  . 
It  is  scarcely  needful  to  say,  that  all  the  rain  which  ever  de- 
scends has  been  previously  raised,  by  evaporation,  from  the  land 
and  water  that  form  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  capacity  of 
the  atmosphere  to  absorb  and  sustain  water  is  limited.  Long 
before  it  reaches  the  point  of  satiu'ation,  change  of  temperature 
and  electrical  agency  must  produce  copious  descents  of  rain. 
From  all  the  surface  below,  evaporation  is  still  going  on ;  and 
wei'e  we  to  imagine  the  air  to  be  first  saturated  to  the  utmost  of 
its  capacity,  and  then  to  ,  discharge  the  whole  quantity  at  once 
upon  the  earth,  that  whole  quantity  would  bear  a  very  inconsid- 
erable proportion  to  the  entire  surface  of  the  globe.  A  few 
inches  of  depth  would  be  its  utmost  amount.  It  is  indeed  the 
fact,  that  upon  a  small  area  of  the  earth's  surface,  yet  the  most 
extensive  that  comes  within  experience  or  natural  possibility, 
heavy  and  continued  rain  for  a  few  days  often  produces  effects 
fearfully  destmctive,  by  swelling  the  streams  and  rivers  of  that 
district ;  but  the  laws  of  nature  as  to  evaporation  and  the  capa- 
city of  atmospheric  air  to  hold  water  in  solution,  render  such  a 
state  of  things  over  the  whole  globe  not  merely  improbable,  but 
absolutely  impossible. 

"  If  we  suppose  the  mass  of  waters  to  have  been  such  as 
would  cover  all  the  land  of  the  globe,  we  present  to  ourselves  an 
increase  of  the  equatorial  diameter,  by  some  eleven  or  twelve 
miles.  Two  new  elements  would  hence  accrue  to  the  actions  of 
gravity  upon  our  planet.  The  absolute  weight  would  be  greatly 
increased,  and  the  causes  of  the  mutation  of  the  axis  would  be 
varied.  I  am  not  competent  to  the  calculation  of  the  changes  in 
the  motions  of  the  earth  which  would   thus  be  produced,  and 


350  APPENDIX. 

which  would  propagate  their  effects  tli rough  the  whole  solar 
system,  and  indeed  to  the  entire  extent  of  the  material  creation, 
but  they  would  certainly  be  very  great.  To  save  the  physical 
system  from  derangements,  probably  ruinous  to  the  well-being  of 
innumerable  sentient  natures,  would  require  a  series  of  stupen- 
dous and  immensely  multiplied  miracles. 

"  Again,  pursuing  the  supposition,  the  ark  would  not  remain 
stationary ;  it  '  went  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.'  Its  form  was 
adapted  to  secure  slowness  of  motion,  so  that  it  should  float  as 
little  a  distance  as  possible  from  the  place  of  human  habitation. 
But  by  the  action  of  the  sun  upon  the  atmosphere,  currents 
would  be  produced,  by  which  the  ark  would  be  borne  away  in  a 
southerly,  and  then  a  westerly  direction.  To  bring  it  back  into 
such  a  .situation  as  would  correspond  to  its  grounding  in  Armenia, 
or  any  part  of  Asia,  it  must  first  circumnavigate  the  globe.  But 
this  was  impossible  in  the  time,  even  if  it  liad  possessed  the  rate 
of  going  of  a  good  sailing  vessel.  It  might,  perhaps,  advance  as 
far  as  the  middle  of  Europe,  or  the  more  westerly  part ;  and 
there  it  would  ground,  at  the  end  of  the  three  hundred  days. 

.  .  "  Another  difficulty  arises  with  respect  to  the 
preservation  of  animals.  Ingenious  calculations  have  been  made 
of  the  capacity  of  the  ark,  as  compared  with  the  room  requisite 
for  the  pairs  of  some  animals,  and  the  septuples  of  othei-s  ;  and 
it  is  remarkable  that  the  well-intentioned  calculators  have  fonned 
their  estimate  upon  a  number  of  animals  below  the  tinith,  to  a 
degree  that  might  appear  incredible.  They  have  usually  satisfied 
themselves  with  a  provision  for  three  or  four  hundred  species  at 
most ;  as  in  general  tliey  show  the  most  astonishing  ignorance  of 
every  branch  of  natural  history.  Of  the  existing  mammalia  (ani- 
mals which  nourish  their  young  by  breasts),  considerably  more 
than  one  thousand  are  known  ;  of  birds,  fully  five  thousand  ;  of 
reptiles,  very  few  kinds  of  which  can  live  in  water,  two  thousand ; 
and  the  researches  of  travellei-s  and  naturalists  are  making  fre- 
quent and  most  interesting  additions  to  the  number  of  these  and 
all  other  classes.  Of  insects  (using  the  word  in  its  popular  sense), 
the  number  of  species  is  immense  ;  to  say  one  hundred  thousand 
Avould  be  moderate.  Each  has  its  appropriate  habitation  and 
food,  and  these  are  necessary  to  its  life ;  and  the  larger  numbei-s 
could  not  live  in  water.  Also,  the  innumerable  millions  upon 
millions  of  animalcula  must  be  provided  for ;  for  they  have  all 
their  appropriate  and  diversified  places  and  circumstances  of  ex- 
istence. But  all  land  animals  have  their  "•eoc'raphical  regions,  to 
which  their  constitutional  natures  are  congenial ;  and  many  could 
not  five  m  any  other  situation.    We  cannot  represent  to  ourselves 


THE   DELUGE.  351 

the  idea  of  their  being  brought  into  one  small  spot,  from  the  po- 
lar regions,  the  torrid  zone,  and  all  the  other  climates  of  Asia, 
Africa,  Europe,  America,  Australia,  and  the  thousands  of  islands, 
their  preservation  and  provision,  and  the  final  disposal  of  them, 
without  bringing  up  the  idea  of  miracles  more  stupendous  than 
any  that  are  recorded  in  Scripture,  even  what  appear  appalling 
in  comparison.     ...... 

"  The  persons  of  whom  we  are  speaking  have  probably  never 
apprehended  any  difficult}^  with  respect  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
waters,  supposing  that  no  provision  was  needed  for  their  preserva- 
tion. It  may,  therefore,  be  proper  to  notice  some  particulars. 
Such  an  additional  quantity  of  water  as  their  interpretation  re- 
quires, would  so  dilute  and  alter  the  mass,  as  to  render  it  an  un- 
suitable element  for  the  existence  of  all  classes,  and  would  kill  oi 
disperse  their  food ;  and  all  have  their  own  appropriate  food. 
Many  of  the  marine  fishes  and  shell  animals  could  not  live  in 
fresh  water ;  and  the  fresh-water  ones  would  be  destroyed  by 
being  kept  even  a  short  time  in  salt  water.  Some  species  can 
indeed  live  in  brackish  water,  having  been  formed  by  their  Crea- 
tor to  have  their  dwelling  in  estuaries,  and  the  portions  of  rivers 
approaching  the  sea.  But  even  these  would  be  affected,  fatally 
in  all  probabihty,  by  the  increased  volume  of  water,  and  the 
scattering  and  floating  away  of  their  nutriment. 

"  Mount  Ararat,  on  which  the  ark  is  supposed  to  have  rested, 
is  nearly  the  height  of  our  European  Mont  Blanc,  and  perpetual 
snow  covers  about  five  thousand  feet  from  its  summit.  If  the 
water  rose,  at  its  liquid  temperature,  so  as  to  overflow  that  sum- 
mit, the  snows  and  icy  masses  would  be  melted  ;  and,  on  the  re- 
turning of  the  flood,  the  exposed  mountain  would  present  its  pin- 
nacles and  ridges,  dreadful  precipices  of  naked  rock,  adown 
which  the  four  men  and  four  women,  and,  Avith  hardly  any  ex- 
ception, the  quadrupeds,  would  have  found  it  utterly  impossible 
to  descend.  To  provide  against  this  difficulty,  to  prevent  them 
from  being  dashed  to  pieces,  must  we  again  suppose  a  miracle!^ 
Must  we  conceive  of  the  human  beings  and  the  animals,  as  trans- 
ported through  the  air  to  the  more  level  regions  below  ?  or  that, 
by  a  miracle  equally  grand,  they  were  enabled  to  glide  unhurt 
down  the  wet  and  slippery  faces  of  the  rock  ?     .     .     .     . 

"  Such  are  the  objections  which  present  themselves  against  the 
interpretation  which,  with  grief  I  acknowledge,  is  generally  ad- 
mitted, in  relation  to  the  Scriptural  narrative  of  the  Deluge.  It 
is  a  painful  position  in  which  I  stand.  I  seem  to  be  taking  the 
part  of  an  enemy,  adducing  materials  for  skepticism,  and  doing 
nothing  to  remove  them.    But  this  situation  for  me  is  inseparable 


352  APPENDIX. 

from  the  plan  of  these  lectures — the  only  plan  that  appeared 
practicable.  The  apparent  discrepancies  between  the  facts  of 
science  and  the  words  of  Scripture  must  be  understood  before 
we  can  make  any  attempt  at  their  removal." 

The  belief  that  the  Deluge  covered  but  a  small  part  of  the 
earth  has  also  been  at  ditferent  periods  adopted  by  other  emi- 
nent writers,  and  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  the  celebrated 
Bishop  Stillingfleet,  who  affirms  that  "  he  cannot  see  any  neces- 
sity from  the  Scriptures  to  assert  that  the  flood  did  spread  itself 
over  all  the  surface  of  the  earth."*  For  a  further  examination  of 
this  interesting  subject,  we  refer  the  reader  to  Dr.  Smith's  work, 
which  most  conclusively  shows  how  vain  it  is  at  the  present  day 
to  continue  to  adhere  to  the  mere  sense  of  the  letter,  without  re- 
gard to  another  interpretation. 


APPENDIX   E. 

SP:NSATIOJfALISM   OE    MATERIALISM    OF    THE    AGE. 

There  are  few  erroneous  principles  which  more  retard  the  prog- 
ress of  truth  and  civilization,  than  that  sensuous  system  of  phi- 
losophy which  has  for  so  many  centuries  been  taught.  Every- 
where we  see  it  laid  down  as  a  maxim,  that  nothing  should  be 
received  as  truth  and  having  a  reality,  except  it  is  obvious  to  the 
external  senses.  Now  in  regard  to  this  much-vaunted  system, 
and  which  is  looked  upon  by  many  as  the  only  sure  source  of  ar- 
riving at  truth,  it  is  under  the  light  of  the  present  century  slowly 
but  surely  passing  away ;  and  there  are  those  who  are  beginning 
to  be  aware  that  the  external  senses,  such  as  hearinof,  seeing-, 
touching,  smelling,  and  tasting,  are  not  the  most  sure  and  uner- 
ring guide  to  the  acquisition  of  facts.  It  is  found  that  they  often 
deceive  and  delude  us.  Thus,  in  regard  to  the  motion  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  they  continually  mislead.  The  organ  of  sight 
informs  us  that  the  sun  rises  and  sets,  and  that  tlie  moon  is  the 

*  Origines  Sacroe,  Book  III.,  chap  iv.,  Ed.  1709,  p.  337. 


MATERIALISM    OF   THE    AGE.  353 

largest  light  in  the  heavens.  Take  an  uneducated  person,  one 
Avho  has  been  fully  nurtured  in  the  doctrine  that  all  things  are  as 
the  senses  represent  them,  and  inform  him  that  the  sun  is  station- 
ary ;  that  the  moon  is  an  opaque  body,  and  is  formed  of  earths, 
rocks,  and  stones,  that  the  light  which  proceeds  from  it  is  caused 
by  the  reflection  of  the  sun,  and  he  will,  because  his  philosophy 
cannot  comprehend  the  matter,  deny  it  as  a  self-evident  impossi- 
bility. He  will  reply  by  asking,  "  How  learned  men  know  the 
sun  to  be  stationary,  when  his  senses  inform  him  that  it  daily 
couises  through  the  heavens — how  it  is  that  the  light  of  the  moon 
comes  in  reality  from  the  sun,  and  whether  any  traveller  has  ever 
been  to  the  moon  to  see  and  examine  its  mountains  ?  No ;  he 
Avill  not  believe  until  he  has  tested  the  same  by  personal  experi- 
ence." Now  the  skepticism  of  this  man  in  regard  to  well-known 
facts  is  a  complete  exemplification  of  the  philosophy  of  the  day ; 
and  it  is  believed  there  are  multitudes  who,  though  they  may 
apparently  admit  the  opaqueness  of  the  moon  and  the  immobilitv 
of  the  sun,  yet,  as  they  do  not  understand  the  subject,  cherish 
secret  doubts,  and  are  far  from  having  the  faith  of  a  Herschel  or 
a  Newton. 

If  the  sensuous  philosophy  is  brought  forward  to  teach  what 
is  matter,  Avhat  substance,  here  again  it  deludes  us,  and  is  unable 
to  answer.  Ask  its  fit  representative,  a  child  or  a  savage,  of 
what  matter  or  substance  consists,  and  he  will  assert,  if  he  is 
able  to  comprehend  you,  that  it  is  that,  and  that  alone,  which 
he  can  see,  touch,  or  taste.  Inquire  of  him  whether  ice  or  snow 
is  a  substance,  and  he  will  reply  that  it  is,  because  it  is  cold 
and  visible.  Let  the  ice  be  dissolved  into  water,  and  then 
make  the  same  inquiry,  and  he  will  reply  that  the  ice  is  no 
longer  a  substance  and  material,  but  is  a  liquid.  Evaporate  the 
water,  and  exhibit  to  him  the  same  in  an  aerial  form,  or  an  equal 
quantity  of  atmospheric  air  hermetically  sealed  and  imprisoned, 
and  he  will  probably  assert  there  is  nothing  in  the  vessel,  and  its 
contents  have  no  existence.  Yet  it  is  true  that  hydrogen  and 
oxygen  are  substances,  and  by  so  considering  the  former,  and 
treating  it  in  a  mechanical  manner,  it  is  believed  that  one  of 
the  greatest  discoveries  of  the  age  has  been  made :  a  discovery 
which,  it  is  said,  teaches  and  bids  fair  in  time  publicly  to  evince 
that  it  is  possible  to  burn  the  hydrogen  of  which  water  is  eom- 

23 


354  APPENDIX. 

posed ;  and  use  that  which  for  ages,  with  multitudes,  has  been 
considered  as  vague,  intangible,  and  immaterial,  as  a  source  from 
which  is  to  be  obtained  both  light  and  heat. 

An  eminent  Avriter  spoke  truly  when  he  said,  "  The  conceptions 
of  the  experimental  philosopher  who  expects  to  find  truth  only 
in  the  labyrinths  of  matter,  are  not  much  more  elevated  than 
those  of  the  vulgar ;"  for,  as  far  as  our  experience  has  gone,  the 
conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  learned  materialist  upon  many 
subjects  are  little  better,  on  the  score  of  rationality,  than  the 
deductions  of  those  who  are  so  much  contemned.  The  humble 
peasant,  when  he  is  told  that  by  the  means  of  the  telegraph 
he  can,  in  a  few  moments,  converse  with  his  friends  though 
they  live  many  leagues  distant,  and  can  receive  an  answer  printed 
by  one  who  has  never  even  seen  the  paper  upon  which  the 
intelligence  is  conveyed,  is  lost  in  astonishment,  and  asks  (as 
once  the  inqviiry  was  made  by  an  honest  farmer).  Whether  he 
could  see  or  hear  the  electric  fluid  as,  lightning-like,  it  sped  on 
its  iron  way  ?  With  this  man  the  idea  natm-aUy  came,  that  if 
news  could  be  sent,  if  types  could  thus  be  made  to  print,  the 
agent  must,  like  the  steamboat  or  locomotive,  be  heard  or  seen : 
yet  ask  this  same  simple-minded  man  in  regard  to  the  soul,  and 
whether  it  exists  after  the  death  of  the  body,  and  he  will  reply 
that  it  does,  for  it  is  so  affirmed  in  the  Scriptures ;  but  propose 
the  same  question  to  the  learned  materialist,  and  he  will  assert 
that  it  is  not  so,  because  his  senses  are  not  cognizant  of  the  fact. 
He  will  assert,  as  was  done  not  long  since  by  an  eminent  English 
surgeon,  that  he  had  dissected  many  dead  bodies,  but  as  yet  had 
found  no  inner  man,  no  soul,  and  hence  that  there  was  none  ;  and 
that  the  human  body  Avas  kept  ahve  by  electricity,  or  an  agent 
of  a  similar  nature  ! 

In  this  case  the  leai-ned  naturalist  stands  on  a  worse  footing 
than  that  of  the  peasant ;  he  stands  on  the  same  ground  as  that 
exhibited  in  the  skepticism  of  a  savage,  for  no  amount  of  evidence 
would  convince  the  savage  that  the  Electric  Telegraph  had  ac- 
complished what  it  has.  He  would  lack  faith ;  and  it  is  the 
same  with  the  learned  skeptic,  and  no  amount  of  evidence  is  suf- 
ficient to  evince  to  him  the  existence  of  another  world,  and  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  He  wiW  not  believe  until  he  has  tested 
the  same  from  personal  experience ;  and  in  vain  is  the  testimony 


MATEKIALISM   OF   THE    AGE.  365 

of  miracles,  of  the  sacred  writings,  and  of  the  prophets  and  apos- 
tles of  God  exhibited.  He  has  not  faith,  for  virtually  his  whole 
philosophy,  those  metaphysical  words  and  terms  upon  which  he 
so  much  prides  himself,  and  which  are  often  without  meaning, 
and  written  to  conceal  his  ignorance,  are  wholly  based  upon  the 
evidence  of  his  sense  of  hearing,  seeing,  touching,  and  tasting ; 
and,  as  remarked  by  Swedenborg,  the  atheistic  naturalist  laughs 
most  heartily  at  those  who  are  sufficiently  credulous  to  believe  in 
a  hereafter,  and  says,  "  What  I  see  and  touch,  I  know  exists. 
What  is  spirit  bvit  vapor  or  heat,  or  something  appertaining  to 
science,  which  vanishes  as  soon  as  such  vapor  or  heat  are  extin- 
guished ?" 

But  without  further  allusion  to  such  unhappy  persons — those 
who,  blinded  by  their  false  doctrines,  and  filled  with  arrogance 
and  pride,  discard  and  ridicule  that  which  they  cannot  compre- 
hend, or  have  a  desire  to  understand — we  shall  bring  forward  a 
citation  from  an  eminent  and  esteemed  writer,  which  it  is  be- 
lieved will  evince  that  we  have  not  spoken  too  plainly  or  exhibited 
the  subject  incorrectly.  The  quotation  is  taken  from  the  writ- 
ings of  J.  D.  Morell.  This  author,  in  his  Historical  and  Critical 
view  of  the  Speculative  Philosophy  of  Europe  in  the  nineteenth 
century  (a  work  which  it  is  believed  will,  for  many  years,  be 
looked  upon  as  an  authority),  goes  on  to  show  how  injurious  and 
pernicious  is  that  system  of  philosophy  which  is  wholly  based  on 
the  evidence  of  the  senses ;  and  not  fearing  the  inferences  and 
deductions  of  such  men  as  Bacon  and  Locke,  asserts  that  they 
were  the  savans  who  first  laid  the  foundations  of  Sensationalism, 
or  that  school  of  philosophy  in  which  are  to  be  found  the  names 
of  Gibbon,  Hume,  Voltaire,  Diderot,  and  Holbach,  and  gave,  un- 
consciously, to  the  enemies  of  Christianity  the  very  weapons  by 
which  they  might  overturn  all  rehgion,  all  spirituality,  even  the 
Scriptures  themselves. 

Thus,  speaking  of  Bacon,  he  says :  "  Whilst,  therefore,  all  the 
branches  of  human  knowledge  were  benefited  by  the  eminently 
wise  and  practical  spirit  that  pervaded  his  writings,  yet  their  final 
result  was  to  elevate  natural  philosophy  above  every  other  de- 
partment ;  to  place  the  empirical  element  in  a  too  prominent  po- 
sition, and  thus  to  give  a  clea)'  ultimate  tendency  in  favor  of  sen- 
sationalism.''— Vol.  I.,  p.  89. 


356  APPExinx. 

In  regard  to  Locke  it  is  observed :  "  Many  philosophers,  how- 
ever, absorbed  in  the  multitude,  the  variety,  and  the  grandeur  of 
the  fruits  of  physical  science,  have  lost  sight  of  every  thing  else — 
have  made  the  senses  the  sole  fountains  of  human  knowledge,  and 
built  up  a  whole  metaphysical  system  upon  the  basis  of  external 
nature.  Such,  in  fact,  was  the  philosophy  of  the  French  Ency- 
clopaedists, and  such,  in  tendency,  was  the  philosophy  of  Locke." 
—Vol.  L,  p.  65. 

"  If,  hoAvever,  we  would  point  out  candidly  the  influence  which 
Locke  exerted  upon  the  progress  of  speculative  philosophy,  it 
must  be  confessed  that  notwithstanding  all  the  admirable  lessons 
which  his  writings  contain,  they  manifested  a  decided  leaning  to- 
wards sensationalism ;  and  included,  though  unknown  to  himself, 
germs  which,  after  a  time,  bore  the  fruit  of  iitilitarianism  in 
inoi-als,  of  materialism,  in  metaphysics,  and  of  skepticism  in  reli- 
gion. To  exhibit  the  process  by  which  this  was  effected,  will  be 
the  next  point  to  which  our  attention  must  be  directed." — Vol.  I., 
p.  133. 

Of  the  influence  of  Locke  in  France  and  Germany,  it  is  said : 
"  Whilst  the  philosophy  of  sensationalism  Avas  thus  developing  it- 
self in  England  (through  the  writings  of  Hobbes,  Priestley,  and 
others),  a  similar  progress  was  made  in  France  with  still  greater 
enei'gy,  and  far  more  extensive  reputation.  The  '  Essay  on  the 
Human  Understanding,'  being  soon  after  its  appearance  translated 
and  extensively  read  throughout  the  whole  circle  of  the  literati  of 
that  country,  produced  as  great  an  impression  there  as  it  did  on 
this  side  the  Channel." — Vol.  I.,  p.  14Y. 

"  The  crowning  piece  in  which  the  ultimate  results  of  the  whole 
system  (of  sensationalism)  are  concentrated,  was  presented  to  the 
world  by  the  Baron  d'Holbach,  in  his  '  Systeme  de  la  Xature,'  a 
work  in  which  materialism,  fatalism,  and  avowed  atheism,  all 
combine  to  fonn  a  view  of  human  nature  which  even  Voltaii'C 
pronounced  to  be  illogical  in  its  deductions,  absurd  in  its  physics, 
and  abominable  in  its  morality." — Vol.  I.,  p.  161. 

We  are  informed  in  regard  to  the  manifestation  of  sensation- 
alism at  the  present  time,  that  it  has  exhibited  itself  in  that 
school  of  philosophy  of  which,  among  others,  Drs.  Elliotson  and 
Engledue  may  be  considered  as  the  representatives. 


MATKRIALISM    OF    THE    AGE.  357 

Of  this  phase  of  materialism  it  is  observed  :  "  The  principles  of 
this  scl>ool  of  cerebral  physiology  are  very  clear  and  simple. 
According  to  their  view,  the  sole  object  of  human  research  is 
matter — the  term  mind  is  a  mere  fiction,  imder  which  we  hide 
om-  ignorance  of  certain  recondite  physical  operations ;  to  speak 
intelligibly,  the  only  mind  which  man  possesses  is  the  brain ; 
thought  is  nothing  more  than  cerebration  ;  and  the  highest  quali- 
ties, both  of  the  intellectual  and  the  moral  feelinfjs,  nothing  but 
the  direct  result  of  a  superior  organization. 

"  Were  we  called  upon  to  explain  the  progressive  influence  of 
sensationalism  upon  man's  theistic  conceptions,  we  should  do  so 
somewhat  in  the  following  manner.  The  first  effect  is  to  weaken 
our  perceptions  of  the  Divine  personality ;  this,  in  the  second 
place,  makes  itself  apparent  by  overturning  the  doctrine  of  a  par- 
ticular providence ;  next,  in  order  to  remove  the  Divine  working 
further  away  from  the  world,  secondary  causes  are  adduced  to 
explain,  not  only  all  the  phenomena  of  nature,  but  also  the  direc- 
tion of  human  life ;  and  then,  lastly,  the  process  advancing  one 
step  further,  it  begins  to  be  an  object  of  speculation  and  of  doubt 
whether  there  be  a  distinct  personality  in  the  Deity  or  not ;  un- 
til, at  length,  the  conception  of  God  is  entirely  blended  with  that 
of  the  order  and  unity  of  nature. 

"Again,  equally  decisive  is  the  effect  of  sensationalism  upon  the 
views  we  have  been  taught  to  entertain  of  man  as  a  creature  of 
God.  To  the  eye  of  sense  a  state  of  moral  perfection  is  something 
altogether  transcendental — the  dream  of  some  fflowimj  imagination. 
To  it  the  present  life  appears  void  of  any  moral  perturbation ; 
man  needs  no  redemption  from  it;  he  requires  no  Divine  impulse 
beyond  what  exists  originally  in  his  own  faculties  ;  and  as  for  im- 
mortality, it  is  a  boon  which  he  may  long  to  realize,  but  the 
reality  of  which  is  by  no  means  clear  and  certain.  In  a  word, 
man  is  to  the  sensationalist  tvholhj  material ;  his  pleasure  on 
earth  is  but  the  result  of  nervous  affections ;  and  it  is  hard  (as 
appears  to  him)  to  give  any  reason  why  the  capacity  of  thought 
itself  should  not  pass  away  forever,  when  the  bodily  structure 
is  dissolved  by  death."* — Vol.  II.,  p.  585. 


*  For  a  further  examin.ition  of  tbe  subject,  we  refer  the  reader  to  the 
writings  of  Dr.  Moore    (recently  published  by  the  Messrs.  Harper),  and 


358  APPENDIX. 

The  great  end  and  aim  of  Mr.  Morell  is  to  debase  sensationalism, 
and  exhibit  the  necessity  of  adopting  that  higher  and  purer  sys- 
tem which  has  begun  to  develop  itself;  and  we  need  not  say  to 
those  who  have  read  his  writings,  that  never  was  a  false  doctrine, 
one  Avhich  for  centuries  has  been  fortified  by  great  names,  more 
fully  exposed  and  exliibited.  An  able  and  powerful  antagonist, 
it  is  admitted  that,  following  up  the  system  in  all  its  windings 
and  subtleties,  in  all  the  dark  labyrinths  of  matter  in  which  it  lay 
concealed,  he,  with  others,  has  "  knocked  down  its  pillars,  blown 
up  its  bastions,"  and  laid  bare  to  public  view  its  most  pernicious 
and  skeptical  tendencies. 

Already  we  are  informed  that  Cambridge  bows  no  longer  to  the 
authority  of  Locke  or  Hartley,  and  that  by  evincing  a  manifest 
sympathy  for  intellectual  philosophy,  it  is  clearly  indicated  that  the 
tendency  of  many  minds  is  veryiny  towards  the  spiritual  and  ideal. 
"  The  reiyn  of  sense,"  it  is  said,  "  has  beyim  to  give  ivay  to  that 
of  reflection  ;  and  it  is  now,  at  least,  possible  to  bring  out  our 
thoughts  respecting  divine  and  supersensual  things,  even  in  a 
philosophical  form,  Avithout  being  met  with  a  smile  either  of  pity 
or  contempt.  Literature  has  caught  the  radiance  of  these  loftier 
conceptions,  and  poetry  has  found  in  them  a  field  of  delight, 
hitherto  almost  untried.  Minds  which  could  only  relish  the 
stimulating  sensualism  of  Byron,  begin  to  feel  that  there  is  some- 
thing which  strikes  a  deeper  note  to  the  inmost  soul  in  the  poetic 
philosophy  of  Wordsworth.  The  influence  of  the  flesh  (to  use  a 
scriptural  phrase),  with  its  passions  and  instincts,  is  yielding  to 
the  might  of  the  spirit." — Vol.  II.,  p.  590. 

"It  is  clear  that  the  reaction  now  experienced  ayainst  sensa- 
tional principles  is  preparing  multitudes  to  enter  into  spiritual 
vieivs  of  human  society  ;  and  though  such  vicios  may  sound  strange 
and  mysterious  at  j^resent,  yet  they  ivill  assuredly  become,  ere 
long,  the  practical  truths  by  which  man's  whole  jjolitical  life  must 
be  regulated." — Vol.  II.,  p.  600. 

The  views  of  such  men  as  Morell,  Dr.  Moore,  and  Carlyle,  may 
be  looked  upon  as  significant  of  tlie  tendency  of  the  present  age  ; 
and  from  their  Avritings,  and  the  fact  that  translations  of  the 


ivhich  fully  confirm  the  views  of  Morell  in  regard  to  the  developineiits  of 

materialism. 


MATERIALISM    OF    THE    AGE.  359 

works  of  Plato,  Kant,  Cousin,  and  others,  are  imported  and  dis- 
seminated, it  can  be  seen  that  there  are  tliose  (and  the  number  is 
continually  on  the  increase)  Avho  are  beginning  to  arouse  them- 
selves from  the  grave  of  sense  in  which  they  have  so  long  slum- 
bered, and  to  hear  the  voice  which  noAV  so  loudly  speaks ;  and 
though  these  writers  do  but  partially  adopt  the  views  of  the  New 
Dispensation,  yet  their  philosophy  is  eminently  of  a  spiritual 
nature,  and  we  fully  believe  is  destined  to  prepare  the  way  for 
"  a  more  elevated  and  philosophical  system ;"  and  that  multitudes 
will  enter  and  receive  those  spiritual  views  of  society  which,  as 
truly  remarked,  at  present  "  sound  so  strange  and  mysterious." 

It  might  be  supposed  by  some  that  we  would  altogether  de- 
grade the  authority  of  the  senses,  and  exalt  the  spiritual  and 
ideal.  But  such  is  far  from  our  desire.  According  to  the  philos- 
ophy found  and  inculcated  in  the  writings  of  the  "  New  Church," 
the  one  should  not  be  extolled  in  preference  to  the  other,  but  by 
a  just  combination  of  both,  by  causing  the  natural  to  meet  the 
spiritual,  a  happy  medium  is  found — one  which  prevents  the  mind 
from  rushing  into  the  wilds  of  sensationalism,  or  the  vagaries  of 
idealism.  As  we  have  observed,  man  at  creation,  in  the  "  prime- 
val age,"  was  taught  subjectively  and  from  the  world  within,  but 
by  the  abuse  of  his  freedom  he  immersed  himself  in  the  grave  of 
materialism,  and  has  now,  at  first,  to  receive  instructions  object- 
ively and  from  the  world  without.  But  the  time  has  now  arrived 
(as  there  are  many  of  full  age)  when  the  process  should  be  re- 
versed ;  when  man,  guided  by  revelation,  should  arrive  at  the 
truth  by  inferences  drawn  subjectively.  By  this  method,  by  con- 
sidering "  that  as  natural  science  is  based  upon  inductions  draAvn 
from  actual  observation  of  the  world  without,  so  metaphysical 
science  is  based  upon  inductions  similarly  drawn  from  reflection 
upon  the  world  within,"  he  is  able  to  found  a  true  system  of  phi- 
losophy, able  to  scrutinize  the  workings  of  the  human  soul,  and, 
above  all,  to  know  himself,  and  thus  prepare  for  his  own  high 
destiny. 

We  close  our  observations  by  adducing  an  extract  from  Swe- 
denborg  in  respect  to  "  Popular  Fallacies ;"  and  as  the  citation 
may  to  some  sound  "  strange  and  mysterious,"  we  shall  preface 
it  by  one  taken  from  the  writings  of  Dr.  Lardner,  who,  in  his 
"  Lectures  on  Science  and  Art,"  devotes  a  section  to  the  subject. 


360  APPENDIX. 

We  give  the  quotation  the  more  willingly,  as  it  exhibits  how  vain 
it  is  to  object  to  that  which  at  first  cannot  be  comprehended — how 
irrational  to  affinn  that  spiritual  views  and  representations  are 
contradictory  and  impossible,  when  on  all  sides  we  see  theories 
established  which  are  wholly  contradictory  to  the  senses,  and 
which  would  not  be  received  as  trath  Avere  they  not  confirmed 
by  eminent  authorities  and  our  daily  experience. 

In  respect  to  "Popular  Fallacies,"  and  the  belief  that  the  evi- 
dence of  the  senses  is  the  best  guide  in  respect  to  the  acquisition 
of  facts,  Dr.  Lardner  observes  : 

"  Of  all  the  means  of  estimating  physical  effects,  the  most  ob- 
vious, and  those  upon  which  mankind  place  the  strongest  confi- 
dence, are  the  senses.  The  eye,  the  ear,  and  the  touch  are  ap- 
pealed to  by  the  whole  u'orld  as  the  unerring  witnesses  of  the 
presence  or  absence,  the  qualities  and  degrees,  of  light  and  color, 
sound  and  heat.  But  these  witnesses,  when  submitted  to  the  scru- 
tiny of  reason,  and  cross-examined,  so  to  sj^cak,  become  involved  in 
inexplicable  perjilexity  and  contradiction,  and  speedily  stand  self- 
convicted  of  jMlpable  falsehood.  Not  only  are  our  oigans  of  sen- 
sation not  the  best  witnesses  to  which  we  can  appeal  for  exact 
information  of  the  qualities  of  the  objects  which  surround  us,  but 
they  are  the  most  fallible  guides  Avhich  can  be  selected.  Not 
only  do  they  fail  in  declaring  the  qualities  or  degrees  of  the  phys- 
ical principles  to  which  they  are  by  nature  severally  adapted, 
but  they  often  actually  inform  us  of  the  presence  of  a  quality 
which  is  absent,  and  of  the  absence  of  a  quality  Avhich  is  present. 

"The  organs  of  sense  were  never,  in  fact,  desio-ned  bv  nature  as 
instruments  of  scientific  inquiry ;  and  had  they  been  so  consti- 
tuted, they  would  probably  have  been  unfit  for  the  ordinary 
purpose  of  life.  It  is  well  observed  that  an  eye  adapted  to  dis- 
cover the  intimate  constitution  of  the  atoms  which  form  the  hand 
of  a  clock,  might  be,  from  the  very  natiu-e  of  its  mechanism,  in- 
capable of  informing  its  owner  of  the  hour  indicated  by  the  same 
hand.  It  may  be  added,  that  a  pair  of  telescopic  eyes,  which 
would  discover  the  molecules  awdi  poimlation  of  a  distant  planet, 
would  ill  requite  the  spectator  for  the  loss  of  that  ruder  power  of 
vision  necessary  to  guide  his  steps  through  the  city  he  inhabits, 
and  to  recognize  the  friends  which  surround  him. 

"After  what  has  been  explained  in  the  preceding  part  of  this 
treatise,  the  reader  will  have  no  difficvilty  in  perceiving  that  feel- 
ing can  never  inform  us  of  the  quantity  of  heat  which  a  body 
contains,  much  less  of  the  relative  qualities  contained  in  two 


MATERIALISM    OF    THE    AGE.  361 

bodies.  In  the  first  place,  the  touch  can  never  be  affected  hxj  heat 
which  exists  in  the  latent  state.  Ice-cold  water,  and  ice  itself, 
feel  as  if  they  had  the  same  temperature,  and  contained  the  same 
quantity  of  lieat ;  and  yet  it  is  proved  that  ice-cold  Avater  con- 
tains a  great  deal  more  heat  than  ice ;  nay,  that  it  can  be  com- 
pelled to  part  with  its  redundant  heat,  and  to  become  ice ;  and 
that  this  redundant  heat,  when  so  dismissed,  may  be  made  to 
boil  a  considerable  quantity  of  water. 

"  If,  in  the  heat  of  summer,  we  descend  into  a  cave,  we  become 
sensible  that  we  are  surrounded  by  a  cold  atmosphere ;  but  if, 
in  the  rigor  of  a  frosty  winter,  we  descend  into  the  same  cave,  we 
are  conscious  of  the  presence  of  a  warm  atmosphere.  Now  a 
thermometer  suspended  in  the  cave  on  each  of  these  occasions 
will  show  exactly  the  same  temperature,  and,  in  fact,  the  air  of 
the  cave  maintains  the  same  temperature  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year.  The  body,  however,  being  in  the  one  case  removed  from 
a  warm  atmosphere  into  a  colder  one,  and  in  the  other  case  from 
a  very  cold  atmosphere  into  one  of  a  higher  temperature,  be- 
comes in  the  latter  case  sensible  of  warmth,  and  in  the  former  of 
cold. 

"Let  us  suppose  that  we  pass  into  a  chamber  of  low  tempera- 
ture, the  matting,  carpeting,  and  woollen  objects  will  feel  the 
most  warm,  the  wood-work  and  furniture  will  feel  colder,  the 
marble  colder  still,  and  metallic  objects  the  coldest  of  all.  Nev- 
ertheless, here  again  all  the  objects  are  exactly  at  the  same  tem- 
perature, as  may  be  in  like  manner  ascertained  by  a  thermometer. 
,"  When  we  bathe  in  the  sea,  or  in  a  cold  bath,  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  consider  the  Avater  as  colder  than  the  air,  and  the  air 
colder  than  the  clothes  which  surround  us.  Now  all  these  ob- 
jects are,  in  fact,  at  tlip  same  temperature.  A  thermometer  sur- 
rounded by  the  cloth  of  our  coat,  or  suspended  in  the  atmosphere, 
or  immersed  in  the  sea,  Avill  stand  at  the  same  temperature. 

"  But  although  the  sense  of  touch  be,  perhaps,  the  most  exposed 
to  have  its  impressions  misinterpreted,  it  is  not  the  only  sense 
which  affords  examples  of  striking  popular  fallacies.  Abundance 
of  these  are  offered  in  the  case  of  the  sense  of  sight. 

"  Every  one  is  famihar  with  the  appearance  of  the  sun  and  moon 
when  rising  and  setting.  The  apparently  large  orb  which  they 
present  to  the  senses  is  an  object  of  familiar  notice.  Is  not  every 
one  impressed  Avith  a  conviction  that  the  apparent  magnitude  of 
the  sun  Avhen  it  rises,  glowing  Avith  a  redness  acquired  from  the 
depth  of  air  through  Avhich  its  rays  then  pass,  is  much  greater 
than  the  apparent  magnitude  of  the  same  object  at  noonday  ? 
and  is  not  the  same  impression  admitted  Avith  respect  to  the  ris- 


362  APPENDIX. 

ing-  or  setting  full  moon,  compared  with  the  same  object  seen  on 
the  meridian"?  Yet  nothing  is  more  easy  than  to  prove,  as  mat- 
ters of  fact,  that  these  impressions  are  fallacious." 

Dr.  Lardner  also  states,  and  illustrates  by  examples,  that  the 
senses  of  smelling  and  tasting  are  hkewise  liable  to  innumerable 
causes  of  deception,  and  that  if  the  oi-gan  at  the  time  it  receives 
an  impression  is  in  any  unusual  condition,  the  indication  will  be 
fallacious. — (See  "  Lectures  on  Science  and  Art,''  Vol.  II.,  p.  85.) 

Swedenborg,  in  respect  to  the  "  Fallacies  of  the  Senses,"  teaches 
that  this  is  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  with  which  society  has  to 
contend ;  that  it  not  only  prevents  the  spread  of  scientific  truths, 
but  also  those  w^hich  have  reference  to  a  life  hereafter.  Going 
further  than  Mr.  Morell,  he  affirms,  that  in  time  the  world  will 
be  divided  into  two  great  classes  :  the  one  of  which,  denying  that 
every  man  is  born  with  a  moral  obliquity,  and  believing  that,  by 
the  aid  of  that  philosophy  known  as  "  Sensationalism,"  he  can 
arrive  at  truth,  will  be  known  as  the  naturalist  or  sensationalist. 
The  other,  educated  differently,  and  taught  to  believe  that  the 
spiritual  is  the  true  region  of  causes,  wmU  be  known  as  the  spirit- 
ualist. It  is  believed  that  time  will  confirm  these  assertions,  and 
that  the  term  "  spiritual  man,"  or  "spirituahst,"  and  which  is 
now  often  used  by  the  opposei-s  of  the  New  Church  as  a  tenn  of 
contempt,  will  be  received  as  an  expression  containing  "  a  Avorld 
of  meaning,"  and  one  which  its  imfortunate  and  much  to  be 
pitied  opposers  will  neither  understand  nor  desire  to  compre- 
hend. The  observations  of  Swedenborg  are  as  follows,  and  are 
taken  fi-om  Vol.  VI.,  p.  79,  of  the  "Arcana  Celestia:" 

"  I.  It  is  a  fallacy  of  sense  merely  natural,  or  which  is  in  na- 
ture, that  it  is  believed  that  the  sun  revolves  once  every  day 
round  about  this  earth,  and  at  the  same  time  also  the  heavens 
with  all  the  stars ;  and  although  it  be  said  that  it  is  incredible, 
because  impossible,  that  so  great  an  ocean  of  fire  as  the  sun  is, 
and  not  only  the  sun,  but  also  innumerable  stars,  without  any 
change  of  place  from  each  other,  should  every  day  perfomi  one 
such  revolution ;  and  although  it  be  added,  that  it  may  be  seen 
froni  the  planets,  that  tlie  earth  performs  a  diurnal  and  annual 
motion  by  circumrotations  and  circumgyrations,  inasmuch  as  the 
planets  also  are  earths,  and  some  of  them  likewise  have  moons 


MATERIALISM   OF   THE   AGE.  363 

around  them,  and  that  it  has  been  observed  that  they,  in  hke 
manner  as  our  earth,  perform  such  motions — namely,  diurnal  and 
annual — still  with  the  generality  the  fallacy  of  sense  prevails,  that 
it  is  so  as  the  eye  sees. 

"  II.  It  is  a  fallacy  of  sense  merely  natural,  or  in  nature,  tliat 
there  is  only  one  single  atmosphere,  and  merely  this  purer  suc- 
cessively in  different  parts,  and  that  where  it  ceases  there  is  a 
vacuum  ;  the  external  sensual  of  man,  when  it  alone  is  consulted, 
does  not  apprehend  otherwise. 

"  III.  It  is  a  fallacy  of  sense  merely  natural,  that  from  first 
creation  tliere  has  been  impressed  on  seeds  a  quality  of  growing 
up  into  trees  and  flowers,  and  of  rendering  themselves  prolific, 
and  that  thence  is  the  existence  and  subsistence  of  all  thmgs ; 
and  if  it  be  urged  that  it  is  not  possible  for  any  thing  to  subsist 
unless  it  perpetually  exists,  according  to  the  established  maxim, 
that  subsistence  is  perpetual  existence,  also  that  every  thing 
which  is  not  connected  with  something  prior  to  itself  falls  into 
nothing,  still  the  sensual  of  the  body,  and  the  thought  from  that 
sensual,  does  not  apprehend  it,  nor  that  all  and  single  things  sub- 
sist as  they  existed,  by  influx  from  the  spiritual  world ;  that  is, 
through  the  spiritual  world  from  the  Divine. 

"  IV.  Hence  it  is  a  fallacy  of  the  sense  merely  natural,  that 
there  are  simple  substances,  which  are  monads  and  atoms ;  for 
whatever  is  within  the  external  sensual,  this  the  natural  man  be- 
lieves, that  it  is  such  a  thing  or  nothing. 

"  V.  It  is  a  fjillacy  of  sense  merely  natural,  that  all  things  are 
of  nature  and  from  nature,  and  that,  indeed,  in  purer  or  interior 
nature  there  is  something  which  is  not  apprehended  ;  but  if  it  be 
said,  that  within  or  above  nature  there  is  the  spiritual  and  celes- 
tial, this  is  rejected,  and  it  is  believed  that  imless  it  be  natural, 
it  is  nothing. 

"  VI.  It  is  a  fallacy  of  sense,  that  the  hody  alone  lives,  and 
that  its  life  pei'ishes  lohen  it  dies  ;  the  sensual  does  not  at  all  ap- 
prehend that  the  internal  man  is  in  single  things  of  the  external, 
and  that  the  internal  man  is  within  nature  in  the  spiritual  world ; 
hence  neither  does  he  believe,  because  he  does  not  apprehend, 
that  he  shall  live  after  death,  unless  he  be  again  clothed  with  a 
body. 

"  VII.  Hence  there  is  a  fallacy  of  sense,  that  man  can  no 
more  live  after  death  than  the  beasts,  by  reason  that  these  also 
have  a  life  in  many  respects  similar  to  the  fife  of  man,  only  that 
man  is  a  more  perfect  animal.  The  sensual  does  not  apprehend, 
that  is,  the  man  who  thinks  and  concludes  from  the  sensual,  that 
man  is  above  the  beasts  and  has  a  superior  life  in  this,  because 


364  APPENDIX. 

he  can  think,  not  only  concerning  the  causes  of  things,  but  also 
concerning  the  Divine,  and  by  faith  and  love  be  conjoined  with 
the  Divine,  and  also  receive  influx  thence  and  appropriate  it  to 
himself ;  so  that  in  man,  because  there  is  given  a  reciprocal,  there 
is  given  reception,  which  is  in  no  wise  the  case  with  the  beasts. 

"  VIII.  It  is  a  fallacy  thence,  that  the  hving  principle  itself 
with  man,  which  is  called  the  soul,  is  only  something  ethereal,  or 
flamy,  which  is  dissipated  when  man  dies ;  and  that  it  resides 
either  in  the  heart,  or  in  the  brain,  or  in  some  part  thereof,  and 
that  hence  it  rules  the  body  as  a  machine ;  that  the  internal  man 
is  in  single  things  of  the  external ;  that  the  eye  does  not  see  from 
itself  but  from  that  internal  man,  nor  the  ear  hear  from  itself  but 
from  that,  the  sensual  man  does  not  apprehend. 

"  IX.  It  is  a  fallacy  of  sense,  that  light  cannot  be  given  from 
any  other  source  than  from  the  sun  or  elementaiy  fire,  nor  heat 
from  any  other  source  than  from  the  same ;  that  there  is  light  in 
which  is  intelligence,  and  heat  in  which  is  celestial  love,  and  that 
all  the  angels  are  in  that  light  and  in  that  heat,  the  sensual  does 
not  apprehend. 

"  X.  It  is  a  fallacy  of  sense,  that  man  believes  that  he  lives  of 
himself,  or  that  he  has  in-given  life,  for  to  the  sensual  it  does  not 
appear  otherwise ;  that  it  is  the  Divine  alone  Avhich  has  life  of 
itself,  and  thus  that  there  is  only  one  life,  and  that  the  lives  in 
the  world  are  only  recipient  forms,  the  sensual  does  not  at  all 
comprehend. 

"  XL  The  sensual  man  from  fallacy  believes  that  adulteries 
are  allowed ;  for  from  the  sensual  he  concludes  that  marriages 
are  only  with  a  view  to  order,  for  the  sake  of  the  education  of 
the  offspring,  and  if  that  order  is  not  destroyed,  that  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  indifference  from  what  father  the  offspring  comes ;  also 
that  the  conjugial  is  like  other  lasciviousness,  except  as  being  al- 
lowed ;  thus  also,  that  it  would  not  be  contrary  to  order  to 
marry  more  wives  than  one,  if  the  Christian  world  did  not  from 
sacred  Scripture  prohibit  it ;  if  it  be  told  them  that  there  is  a 
correspondence  between  the  heavenly  marriage  and  marriages  in 
the  earths,  and  that  no  one  can  have  in  himself  the  conjugial  un- 
less he  be  in  spiritual  truth  and  good,  also  that  the  genuine  con- 
jugial cannot  be  given  between  a  husband  and  several  wives,  and 
hence  that  marriages  are  in  themselves  holy,  these  things  the 
sensual  man  rejects  as  nothing. 

"  XII.  It  is  a  fallacy  of  sense,  that  the  Lord's  kingdom,  or 
heaven,  is  of  a  quality  resembling  an  earthlj'  kingdom  in  this, 
that  there  it  is  joy  and  happiness  for  one  to  be  greater  than  an- 
other, and  thence  in  glory  above  another ;    for  the  sensual  does 


SWEDENBOEG  S    MEMORABLE    KELATI0N8.  365 

not  at  all  comprehend  Avhat  is  meant  by  the  least  being  greatest, 
or  the  last  first ;  if  it  be  told  them  that  joy  in  heaven,  or  to  the 
angels,  is  to  serve  others  by  doing  them  good,  without  any  re- 
flection of  merit  and  retribution,  this  comes  as  sometliing  sad. 

"  XIII.  It  is  a  fallacy  of  sense,  that  good  works  are  merito- 
rious ;  and  that  to  do  well  to  any  one  for  the  sake  of  self  is  a 
good  Avork. 

"  XIV.  It  is  also  a  fallacy  of  sense,  that  man  is  saved  by  faith 
alone ;  and  that  faith  can  be  given  where  there  is  not  charity ; 
also  that  the  faith,  not  the  life,  remains  after  death.  The  case  is 
similar  in  very  many  other  instances  ;  wherefore  when  the  sensual 
bears  rule  in  man,  then  the  rational  illustrated  from  the  Divine 
sees  nothing,  and  is  in  thick  darkness ;  and  then  it  is  believed 
that  all  that  is  rational  Avhich  is  concluded  from  the  sensual." 


APPENDIX   F. 

swedenborg's  memorable  relations. 

Much  has  been  said,  at  various  times,  in  respect  to  Sweden- 
borg's "Memorable  Relations"  of  things  seen  and  heard  in  the 
other  world.  These  relations,  above  other  representations,  are 
by  some  considered  as  evincing  beyond  doubt  marks  of  a  disor- 
dered intellect.  This  being  the  case,  and  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  never  had  an  opportunity  of  perusing  them,  we  will  adduce 
several,  from  which  it  can  be  seen  how  near  his  opposers  have 
arrived  at  the  truth  in  their  assertions. 

The  first  relation  which  we  shall  examine  is  in  respect  to  the 
views  held  by  many  in  regard  to  the  joys  and  happiness  of  an- 
other existence,  or  heaven.  According  to  the  orthodox  theory 
laid  down  and  defended,  the  joys  or  happiness  of  heaven  con- 
sists in  continually  singing  and  praising.  Swedenborg  asserts  this 
is  a  delusion,  and  that  a  human  being  is  so  constituted  that  it  is 
impossible  for  him  thus  to  become  a  passive  recipient  of  happi- 
ness. It  is  said  such  a  life  in  a  short  time  would  become  so 
monotonous  as  to  be  unendurable,  and  that  only  by  the  exercise 


Seiti  APPENDIX. 

of  liis  nobler  powers  is  man  or  angel  enabled  to  procure  to 
himself  a  life  of  enjoyment.  When  this  explanation  of  Sweden- 
borg  is  offered  to  his  opposei's,  it  is  denied,  and  the  assertion  made 
that  according  to  the  Scriptm-es  a  happy  spirit  does  nothing  but 
continually  sing  and  pray,  day  and  night,  without  ceasing.  Now 
in  regard  to  such  persons,  among  whom  are  to  be  found  many 
good  and  pious  members  of  the  Old  Church,  we  are  informed  that 
when  they  proceed  to  another  existence  the  same  fallacy  re- 
mains, and,  as  it  is  impossible  by  reasoning  to  convince  them  that 
they  are  in  an  error,  they  are  permitted  to  proceed  to  their  self- 
created  heaven,  and  see  by  experience  whether  it  is  possible  for 
them  to  be  passive  recipients  of  happiness.  Thus,  we  are  in- 
formed that  after  they  perceive  they  exist  in  another  life  in 
the  human  form,  they  are  taken  by  the  conducting  angel  to 
churches  and  temples.  Here  they  find  those  of  a  similar  belief 
engaged  in  religious  exercises.  These  are  continued  without 
intermission  day  and  night,  yet  still  the  clergyman  invites 
the  attention  of  his  audience,  and  proceeds  with  new  discourses, 
which  are  varied  by  singing  and  prayer,  until,  completely 
wearied  and  exhausted,  the  good  and  pious  Christians  (among 
whom  are  to  be  found  grave  and  reverend  clergymen)  begin  to 
ask  themselves,  Is  this  heaven  ?  Have  we  not  deceived  our- 
selves ?  Upon  which,  it  is  said,  when  it  is  found  the  scales  have 
fallen  from  their  eyes,  and  they  are  in  possession  of  their  senses, 
and  willing  to  listen  to  reason,  they  are  informed  concerning  their 
delusion,  and  of  what  consists  heavenly  happiness. 

But  let  us  give  Swedenborg's  more  definite  relation  of  the  sub- 
ject. The  reader  will  notice  that  notwithstanding  it  is  said  the 
"  Relation"  is  of  a  visionary  nature,  there  is  enough  sufficientlj- 
clear  to  leave  little  doubt  concerning  the  WTiter's  intention. 

"  After  this,  the  conducting  anwl  returned  into  the  house  to 
those  ivJio  had  firmly  i^ersuaded  themselves  that  heavenly  joy  and 
eternal  happiness  are  a  perpetual  glorification  of  God,  and  a  fes- 
tival continuing  to  eternity,  because  they  had  in  the  world  be- 
lieved that  they  should  then  see  God,  and  because  the  life  of 
heaven,  from  the  worship  of  God,  is  called  a  perpetual  Sabbath. 
To  these  the  angel  said,  '  Follow  me,  and  I  will  introduce  you 
into  your  joy.'  And  he  introduced  them  into  a  little  city,  in  the 
middle  of  Avhich  there  was  a  temple,  and  all  the  houses  were 


SWEDENBOEG  S   MEMORABLE    RELATIONS.  367 

called  sacred  chapels.  In  that  city  they  saw  a  multitude  flowing 
from  every  corner  of  the  surrounding  country,  and  among  them 
a  number  of  priests,  who  received  those  who  came,  saluted  them, 
and,  taking  them  by  the  hand,  led  them  to  the  gates  of  the  tem- 
ple, and  thence  into  some  of  the  chapels  around  the  temple,  and 
initiated  them  into  the  everlasting  worship  of  God ;  saying,  that 
this  citj-  was  a  place  of  entrance  into  heaven,  and  that  the  temple 
of  this  city  was  an  entrance  to  the  most  spacious  and  magnificent 
temple  that  is  in  heaven,  -where  God  is  glorified  by  the  angels 
witli  praj'ers  and  praises  to  eternity.  The  statutes  here  and  there 
are,  that  they  should  first  enter  the  temple,  and  remain  there 
three  days  and  three  nights,  and  that  after  this  initiation  they 
should  go  into  the  houses  of  this  city,  which  are  so  many  chapels 
consecrated  by  us,  and  from  chapel  to  chapel,  and,  in  communion 
with  those  who  are  assembled  there,  should  pray,  shout,  and  re- 
hearse what  has  been  preached. 

"  You  must  by  all  means  beware  lest  you  should  think  any 
thing  in  yourselves,  and  speak  any  thing  with  your  consociates, 
but  what  is  holy,  pious,  and  religious.  After  this  the  angel  in- 
troduced his  companions  into  the  temple,  which  was  filled  and 
crowded  with  many  who  had  been  in  gi-eat  dignity  in  the  world, 
and  also  with  many  of  the  common  people ;  and  guards  were 
stationed  at  the  gates,  that  no  one  might  be  allowed  to  go  out 
before  completing  the  stay  of  three  days.  And  the  angel  said. 
To-day  is  the  second  day  since  these  entered  ;  observe  them,  and 
you  will  see  their  glorification  of  God.  And  they  observed  them, 
and  saw  most  of  them  asleep,  and  those  who  were  awake  yawn- 
ing and  yawning,  and  some  of  them,  from  a  continual  elevation  of 
the  thoughts  to  God,  without  any  relapse  of  them  into  the  body, 
seemed  like  faces  severed  from  the  body,  for  so  they  appeared 
to  themselves,  and  thence  also  to  others ;  some  roving  with  their 
eyes,  from  a  perpetual  withdrawing  of  them  :  in  a  word,  all  felt  a 
compression  of  the  breast,  and  weariness  of  spirit  from  fatigue, 
and  were  turned  away  from  the  pulpit,  and  crying,  '  Our  ears 
are  stunned ;  finish  your  discourses  ;  your  voice  is  no  longer 
heard,  and  the  sound  of  it  begins  to  be  intolerable.'  And  then 
they  rose  up,  and  ran  in  a  body  to  the  gates,  broke  them  open, 
and  rushed  upon  the  guards,  and  drove  them  away.  On  seeing 
this,  the  priests  followed  them,  and  joined  themselves  to  their 
sides,  teaching  and  teaching,  praying,  sighing,  and  saying.  Cele- 
brate the  festival ;  glorify  God  ;  sanctify  yourselves  ;  in  this  entry 
of  heaven  we  will  initiate  you  into  the  eternal  glorification  of  God 
in  the  most  spacious  and  magnificent  temple  that  is  in  heaven, 
and  thus  to  the  enjoyment  of  eternal  happiness.     But  these  things 


368  APPENDIX. 

were  not  understood  bv  them,  and  Tvere  scarcely  heard,  on  ac- 
count of  the  listlessness  occasioned  by  the  suspension  of  their 
mind  for  the  space  of  two  days,  and  its  detention  from  domestic 
and  secular  affairs.  But  when  they  attempted  to  tear  themselves 
away  from  the  priests,  the  priests  took  hold  of  their  arms,  and 
also  of  their  garments,  urging  them  to  the  chapels  where  what 
had  been  preached  was  rehearsed  ;  but  in  vain.  And  they  ciied, 
'  Let  us  alone  ;  we  feel  as  if  we  should  faint  away.'  At  these 
words,  lo,  there  were  seen  four  men  in  white  garments,  and  wear- 
ing mitres :  one  of  them  in  the  world  had  been  an  arclibishop, 
and  the  other  three  had  been  bishops,  and  had  now  become 
angels.  These  called  the  priests  together,  and  addressing  them, 
said,  '  We  have  seen  you  from  heaven  with  these  sheep,  how  you 
■feed  them ;  you  feed  them  even  to  insanity.  You  do  not  know 
what  is  meant  by  the  glorification  of  God  ;  it  is  meant  to  produce 
the  fruits  of  love,  that  is,  to  do  faithfully,  sincerely,  and  diligently 
the  work  of  one's  station  ;  for  this  is  of  the  love  of  God  and  of  the 
love  of  the  neighbor,  and  this  is  the  bond  of  society,  and  its  good  ; 
by  this  God  is  glorified,  and  then  by  worship  at  stated  times. 
Have  you  not  read  these  words  of  the  Lord?  In  thi.t  is  my 
Father  glorified,  that  ye  bring  forth  much  fruit,  and  become  my 
discij^tles. — (John  xv.  8.)  You  priests  can  be  in  the  glorification 
of  worship,  because  this  is  your  office,  and  thence  you  have  honor, 
glory,  and  recompense,  but  still  you  could  not  be,  any  more  than 
they,  in  that  glorification,  unless  honor,  glory,  and  recompense 
were  together  with  your  office.'  Having  said  these  words,  the 
bisliops  commanded  the  keepers  of  the  door  to  let  all  in,  and  let 
all  out ;  for  there  are  a  great  many  w^ho  cannot  think  of  any 
other  heavenly  joy  than  the  perpetual  worship  of  God,  because 
they  do  not  know  any  thing  concerning  the  state  of  heaven." — 
T.  C.  R,  738. 

In  respect  to  those  who  believe  that  they  are  to  be  kings  and 
princes,  and  are  to  reign  with  Christ  forever,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  After  this  the  angel  called  to  him  the  company  of  the  wise, 
so  called,  who  had  placed  heavenly  joys,  and  from  them  eternal 
happiness,  in  supereminent  dominions  and  inexhaustible  treasures, 
and  in  more  than  royal  magnificence  and  splendor ;  because  it  is 
said  in  the  Word  that  they  were  to  be  kings  and  princes,  and  that 
they  were  to  reign  -with  Christ  forever,  and  that  they  were  to  be 
ministered  to  by  angels,  besides  many  more  thmgs. 


SWEDENBOKg's  memorable  RELATIO^"S.       369 

"  The  angel  said  to  them,  '  Follow  me,  and  I  will  introduce 
you  into  your  joys.'  And  he  led  them  into  a  portico  constructed 
of  columns  and  pyramids :  in  the  front  there  was  a  porch,  through 
which  was  the  entrance  into  the  portico;  through  this  he  intro- 
duced them ;  and  behold  there  were  seen  twenty  there,  and  they 
were  waiting.  And  then  suddenly  there  came  one  who  personated 
an  angel,  and  said  to  them,  '  The  way  to  heaven  is  through  this 
portico.  Stay  a  little  while,  and  prepare  yourselves,  because  the 
older  of  you  are  to  be  kings,  and  the  younger  princes.'  This 
being  said,  then  there  appeared  near  each  column  a  throne,  and 
upon  each  throne  a  robe  of  silk,  and  upon  each  robe  a  sceptre 
and  a  crown ;  and  near  each  pyramid  there  appeared  a  seat 
raised  three  cubits  from  the  ground,  and  upon  the  seat  a  chain  of 
little  links  of  gold,  and  the  badges  of  the  order  of  knighthood, 
tied  together  at  the  ends  with  diamond  rings.  And  then  it  was 
said  with  a  loud  voice,  '  Go  now,  put  on  your  garments,  sit  down 
and  wait.'  And  forthwith  the  older  ones  ran  to  the  thrones,  and 
the  younger  ones  to  the  seats,  and  put  on  their  garments,  and 
seated  themselves.  But  then  there  appeared,  as  it  were,  a  thick 
cloud  ascending  from  below,  which,  being  drawn  to  those  who 
sat  upon  the  thrones  and  seats,  they  began  to  swell  in  the  face, 
to  be  elevated  in  the  breast,  and  to  be  filled  with  confidence  that 
they  were  now  kings  and  piinces ;  that  cloud  was  an  exhalation 
of  phantasy,  with  which  they  were  inspired ;  and  suddenly  there 
flew  to  them  young  men,  as  it  were,  from  heaven,  and  they  stood, 
two  behind  each  throne,  and  one  behind  each  seat,  to  minister. 
And  then  proclamation  was  made  to  them  by  a  herald,  '  Kings 
and  princes,  wait  yet  a  little  while,  your  palaces  in  heaven  are 
now  being  prepared ;  very  soon  the  courtiers,  with  the  guards, 
will  come  and  introduce  you.'  They  waited  and  waited,  until 
their  spirits  drooped,  and  they  became  weary  with  desire.  After 
the  space  of  three  hours,  the  heaven  was  opened  over  their  heads, 
and  the  angels  looked  down,  and,  pitying  them,  said,  '  Why  do 
you  sit  thus  infatuated,  and  act  parts  that  do  not  belong  to  you  ? 
They  have  played  tricks  with  you,  and  changed  you  from  men 
into  idols,  because  yovi  had  taken  it  into  your  hearts  that  you  are 
to  reign  with  Christ  as  kings  and  princes,  and  that  then  the  angels 
are  to  minister  to  you.  Have  you  forgotten  the  words  of  the 
Lord,  that  in  heaven  whosoever  wishes  to  be  great,  let  him  be- 
come a  servant  ?  Learn,  then,  what  is  meant  by  being  kings  and 
princes,  and  what  by  reigning  with  Christ ;  that  it  is  to  be  wise 
and  do  uses  ;  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  which  is  heaven,  is  a 
kingdom  of  uses.  For  the  Lord  loves  all,  and  thence  wills  good 
to  all,  and  POod  is  use :  and  because  the  Lord  does  oood  or  uses 

24 


370 


APPENDIX. 


mediately  by  angels,  and  in  the  Avorld  by  men,  therefore,  to  those  « 
Avho  faithfully  perform  uses,  he  gives  the  love  of  use  and  its  re- 
ward, which  is  internal  blessedness,  and  this  is  eternal  happmess. 
There  are  in  the  heavens,  as  on  earth,  supereminent  doinmions, 
and  the  richest  treasures ;  for  there  are  governments  and  forms 
of  governments,  and  thus  there  are  greater  and  less  powers  and 
dignities ;  and  those  who  are  in  the  highest  stations  have  palaces 
and  courts,  which,  in  magnificence  and  splendor,  exceed  the 
palaces  and  courts  of  emperors  and  kings  on  the  earth  ;  and  from 
the  number  of  their  courtiers,  ministers,  and  guards,  and  from  the 
magnificent  vestures  of  these,  honor  and  glory  surround  theni. 
Bu?  these  highest  ones  are  chosen  from  those  whose  hearts  are  in 
tlie  public  welfare,  and  only  the  senses  of  the  body  in  the  ampli- 
tude of  magnificence  for  the  sake  of  obedience  ;  and  because  it  is 
of  the  public  welfare  that  every  one  shall  be  of  some  use  in  the 
society,  as  in  a  common  body,  and  because  all  use  is  from  the 
Lord,  and  is  done  by  angels  and  men  as  if  from  them,  it  is  mani- 
fest that  this  is  to  reign  with  the  Lord.'  These  things  being 
heard  from  heaven,  those  who  had  personated  kings  and  princes 
descended  from  their  thrones  and  seats,  and  cast  aAvay  the  scep- 
tres, crowns,  and  robes ;  and  the  thick  cloud,  in  which  was  the 
aura  of  phantasy,  receded  from  them,  and  a  bright  cloud,  in  which 
was  the  aura  of  wisdom,  encompassed  them,  from  which  sanity 
returned  to  their  minds." — T.  C.  R.,  736. 

From  the  above  (and  several  relations  of  the  same  nature  are 
given,  exhibiting  the  means  taken  to  free  the  minds  of  those  who 
believe  that  a  future  existence  and  the  joys  of  heaven  consist  solely 
in  "  paradisaical  delights")  it  can  be  seen  how  near  Swedenborg's 
opposers  have  approached  the  tnith  m  their  condemnation.  It 
is  believed  that  time  will  evince  that  grave  and  reverend  doctors 
of  theology  have  not  so  much  reason  to  laugh  and  ridicule  these 
relations  as  is  supposed ;  and  there  are  those  who  are  so  bold  as 
to  think,  that  if  on  so  serious  a  subject  a  smile  might  be  per- 
mitted, the  obloquy  will  ere  long  be  turned  upon  the  theologian 
who  now  teaches  that  singing  and  praising  comprise  the  chief 
enjoyments  of  heaven.  We  are  aware  that  it  may  be  said 
that  Swedenborg's  representations  seem  like  a  burlesque  and 
caricature.  But  this  cannot  be,  as  we  are  informed  that  every 
man,  without  regard  to  the  situation  he  held  in  this  world,  in 
another  life  exhibits  without  disguise  his  real  character ;  which, 
if  it  were  done  in  this  life,  would,  so  artificial  is  society,  seem  not 


SWEDENBORG  S    MEMORABLE    RELATIONS.  371 

representing  nature,  but  acting  the  part  of  a  charlatan.  The  fact 
that  the  "  pecuhar  method"  mentioned  is  taken  to  undeceive  per- 
sons in  another  hfe  is,  in  our  mind,  no  small  proof  of  its  truth ; 
for  how,  Ave  ask,  would  it  be  possible  to  undeceive  a  learned  and 
ei-udite  member  of  the  Old  Church  except  in  the  manner  repre- 
sented ?  To  reason  with  him  would  be  useless,  for  it  is  known 
that  in  this  world  there  are  multitudes  who  are  so  fixed  in  their 
belief  in  regard  to  secular  affairs,  that  nothing  but  experience  and 
a  personal  trial  will  couAince  them  they  are  in  the  Avrong,  and  in- 
capable of  acting  the  part  they  had  chosen.  And  if  this  is  so  in 
regard  to  things  of  this  life,  how  much  more  difficult  would  it  be 
to  convince  a  theologian,  "  a  subtle  and  acute  reasoner,"  one  who 
prides  himself  on  his  attainments,  that  he  had  imbibed  false  views 
concerning  life  and  happiness  in  another  existence !  Indeed,  we 
would  much  sooner  strive  to  turn  the  course  of  a  mighty  river 
than  attempt  it ;  and  argument  with  such  persons  serves  but  to 
excite  their  combativeness  and  prejudice,  and  render  them  still 
more  fixed  in  their  delusion.  "  What !"  we  have  heard  them 
exclaim,  "  are  we  to  beheve  that  in  modern  times  God,  throuofh 
a  human  instrument,  has  given  new  traths  to  mankind !  The 
thing  is  impossible.  Have  we  not  studied  the  subject  ?  Have  not 
the  views  which  Ave  adopt  been  confirmed  by  great  names  in 
former  ages  ?  Have  not  martyrs  and  saints  died  in  the  belief? 
Are  Ave  to  admit  that  Ave  have  lived  in  such  darkness  ;  and  are 
we  to  exchange  our  devotional  works,  those  hymns  which  are  so 
rational  and  instructive  ?  It  is  '  very  indelicate'  and  sensuous  to 
believe  that  man  exists  after  death  in  the  human  form.  No :  we 
care  not  to  hear  of  a  new  dispensation,  and  Avish  not  to  be  wise 
above  Avhat  is  Avritten." 

Such  are  the  replies  Avhich  have  been  made ;  and  again  we  re- 
peat, that  Avith  such  persons  Avho  carry  with  them  "  this  invmci- 
ble  firmness"  to  another  existence,  nothing,  no  argument  Avould 
aA'ail ;  and  it  is  only  after  they  have  made  a  trial  of  the  pleasures 
of  their  imaginary  hea\'en,  and  have  said,  "Our  ears  are  stunned; 
finish  your  discourses ;  your  voice  is  no  longer  heard,  and  the 
sound  begins  to  be  intolerable,"  that  they  are  convinced  that  they 
had  liA^ed  in  a  delusion,  and  that  glorifying  and  praising  God  con- 
sisted in  performing  uses  and  fulfilling  the  duties  of  the  offices  to 
which  they  were  appointed. 


372  APPENDIX 

We  close  our  observations  by  adducing  an  extract  of  a  differ- 
ent natui'e,  it  being  in  reference  to  the  views  held  by  many  in 
regard  to  a  future  existence.  The  conversation  is  asserted  by 
Swedenborg  to  have  taken  place  in  the  world  of  spuits,  or  the 
sphere  into  which  all  depart  at  death.  The  novelty  of  the  col- 
loquy is  removed  by  considering  that  the  persons  who  give  their 
opinions  consider  themselves  (so  gross  are  their  ideas)  as  yet 
in  this  world.  It  is  believed  that  in  this  "  Relation,"  Sweden- 
borg has  given  a  faithful  daguerreotype  of  the  different  theories 
held  in  respect  to  the  hidden  world. 

"  'nVc  stopped  in  the  middle,  where  the  crowded  Avay  termina- 
ted, and  said,  '  Let  us  stay  here  a  little  while  and  speak  loith  the 
new-comers'  And  we  chose  twelve  from  the  multitude ;  and, 
because  they  all  had  just  come  from  the  natural  icorld,  they 
knew  no  otherwise  than  that  they  were  still  there ;  and  we 
asked  them  what  they  thought  concerning  heaven  and  hell, 
and  what  concerning  a  life  after  death. 

"  To  which  ONE  of  them  replied,  that  '  Our  sacred  order  im- 
pressed upon  me  the  belief,  that  we  shall  live  after  death,  and 
that  there  is  a  heaven  and  a  hell ;  and  thence  I  have  believed 
that  all  who  live  morally  come  into  heaven ;  and,  because  all  do 
live  morally,  that  none  go  to  hell ;  and  thus  that  hell  is  a  fable, 
invented  bv  the  clergy,  that  people  maA"  be  deterred  from  living 
wickedly.  What  matter  is  it,  if  I  think  concerning  God  so  or  so  ? 
Thought  is  only  like  chaff,  or  a  bubble  upon  the  water,  which 
bursts  and  goes  oft? 

"  Another  near  him  said,  '  It  is  my  belief  that  there  is  a 
heaven  and  a  hell,  and  that  God  gOA'ferns  heaven,  and  the  Devil 
hell ;  and  because  they  are  enemies,  and  thence  opposed  to  each 
other,  one  calls  evil  what  the  other  calls  good ;  and  that  the 
moral  man,  who  can  dissemble,  and  cause  evil  to  appear  as  good, 
and  good  as  evil,  stands  on  the  side  of  both.  What,  then,  is  the 
difference,  whether  I  am  with  the  one  or  the  other  Lord,  if  he 
only  ftivors  me  ?     Evil  and  good  equally  delight  men.' 

"  A  THIRD  at  the  side  of  him  said,  '  Why  should  I  believe  that 
there  is  a  heaven  and  a  hell,  for  who  has  come  thence  and  told? 
If  every  man  lived  after  death,  why  should  not  one  out  of  so 
great  a  multitude  have  returned  and  told '?'  A  fourth  near 
him  said,  '  I  will  inform  you  why  no  one  has  ever  returned  and 
told ;  the  reason  is,  because  man,  as  soon  as  he  expires  and  dies, 
then  either  becomes  a  spectre,  and  is  dissipated,  or  is  like  the 
bieath  of  the  mouth,  which  is  onlv  wind.     How  can  such  a  one 


SWEDENBOKGS    MEM<HiABLE    RELATIONS.  373 

return  and  speak  with  any  one  ?'  A  fifth  followed  him,  and 
said,  '  My  friends,  wait  till  the  day  of  the  last  judgment,  because 
all  will  then  return  into  their  own  bodies,  and  will  see  them,  and 
talk  with  them,  and  then  they  will  tell  each  other  their  destinies.' 
A  SIXTH,  standing  opposite,  and  smiling,  said,  '  Hoav  can  a  spirit, 
which  is  wind,  return  into  a  body  eaten  up  by  worms,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  into  its  skeleton  burnt  up  by  the  sun,  and  reduced 
to  dust  ?  and  how  can  any  one,  made  an  Egyptian  mummy,  and 
mixed  by  the  apothecary  with  various  medicines,  which  have 
been  eaten  or  drunk,  return  and  relate  any  thing  ?  Wherefore 
wait,  if  you  have  faith,  till  that  last  day ;  but  you  may  wait  for- 
ever and  ever  in  vain.' 

"The  SEVENTH,  after  this,  said,  'If  I  believed  that  there  is  a 
heaven  and  hell,  and  thence  a  life  after  death,  I  should  also  be- 
lieve that  birds  and  beasts  would  likewise  live.  Are  not  some  of 
them  equally  as  moral  and  rational  as  men '?  It  is  denied  that 
beasts  live,  wherefore  I  deny  that  men  do ;  the  reason  is  equal : 
one  follows  from  the  other.  What  is  man  but  an  animal  ?'  An 
EIGHTH,  standing  behind  him,  came  up  and  said,  'Believe  there 
is  a  heaven,  if  you  will ;  but  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  hell.  Is 
not  God  omnipotent  ?  and  is  he  not  able  to  save  every  one  ?' 

"  Then  a  ninth,  patting  his  hand,  said,  '  God  is  not  only  om- 
nipotent, but  also  gracious,  and  cannot  send  any  one  into  eternal 
fire ;  and  if  any  one  is  there,  he  cannot  but  take  him  out  thence 
and  lift  him  up.'  A  tenth  ran  out  of  his  rank  into  the  midst, 
and  said,  '  Neither  do  I  believe  there  is  a  hell.  Did  not  God 
send  his  Son,  and  did  not  he  make  an  atonement,  and  take  away 
the  sins  of  the  whole  woi-ld  ?  What,  then,  can  the  Devil  avail 
against  that?  And  because  he  cannot  avail  any  thing,  what 
then  is  hell  ?'  An  eleventh,  who  was  a  priest,  on  hearing  this, 
grew  warm  and  said,  '  Do  you  not  know  that  those  who  have  ob- 
tained the  faith,  on  which  the  merit  of  Christ  is  inscribed,  are 
saved,  and  that  those  whom  God  elects  obtain  faith  ?  Is  not 
election  according  to  the  will  of  the  Almighty  ?  and  is  it  not  his 
prerogative  to  judge  who  are  worthy  ?  Who  can  do  any  thing 
against  his  will  and  judgment  ?'  The  twelfth,  who  was  a  poh- 
tician,  was  silent ;  but  being  asked  to  crown  all  with  an  answer, 
he  said,  '  I  shall  not  say  any  thing  concerning  heaven,  hell,  and 
a  life  after  death,  since  no  one  knows  any  thing  about  them ;  but 
still  allow  the  priests,  without  rebuke,  to  preach  those  things ; 
for  thus  the  minds  of  the  vulgar  are  held  bound  by  an  invisible 
bond  to  the  laws  and  rulers.  Does  not  the  public  safety  depend 
on  this?' 

"  We  were  astonished  at  hearing  such  things,  and  said  amongst 


374  APPENDIX. 

ourselves,  'These,  although  they  are  called  Christians,  are  not 
men  nor  beasts,  but  men-beasts.'  But,  in  order  to  awaken  them 
out  of  sleep,  we  said,  '  There  is  a  life  after  death ;  you  will  be 
cominced  that  there  is.  w^hen  we  dispel  the  ignorance  concerning 
the  state  of  life  in  which  you  now  are ;  for  every  one,  in  the  first 
days  after  death,  knows  no  otherwise  than  that  he  still  lives  in 
the  same  world  in  which  he  lived  before ;  for  the  time  past  is 
like  a  sleep  from  which,  Avhen  any  one  is  awaked,  he  perceives 
no  otherwise  than  that  he  is  where  he  Avas.  It  is  similar  with 
you  now ;  wherefore  you  have  spoken  just  as  vou  thought  in  the 
former  world.'  And  the  angels  dispelled  their  ignorance,  and 
then  they  saw  themselves  in  another  world,  and  among  those 
whom  they  did  not  know ;  and  then  they  e.xclaimed,  '  O,  where 
are  we '?'  And  we  said, '  You  are  no  longer  in  the  natural  world, 
but  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  we  are  angels.'  " — (See  True 
Christian  Religion,  160.) 


APPENDIX    G. 


ILLUSTRATIONS    OF   THE    EM)    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

We  adduce  the  following  illustrations  concerning  the  End  of 
the  Church,  and  which,  without  further  obsei-vation  on  our  part, 
are  presented  for  the  consideration  of  the  reader. 

The  first  citation  is  concerning  the  Roman  Church.  The  pic- 
ture is  drawn  by  Gregory  XVI.,  in  his  encyclical  letter  to  all  the 
bishops,  in  1832. 

"  We  speak,  venerable  brethren,  that  which  ye  behold  with 
your  own  eyes ;  w^hich,  therefore,  we  deplore  with  united  tears. 
An  unrestrained  wickedness,  a  shameless  science,  a  dissolute  li- 
centiousness, are  triumphant.  The  sanctity  of  holy  things  is 
despised,  and  the  majesty  of  divine  woi-ship,  which  possesses 
such  great  power,  and  is  of  so  great  necessity,  is  blamed,  profaned, 
derided,  by  wicked  men.  Hence  sound  doctrine  is  perA'erted, 
and  errors  of  all  kinds  are  daringly  disseminated.  The  laws  of 
bacred  things,  the  institutions,  the  very  holiest  discipline,  are  not 


ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    THE    END    OF   THE    CHURCH.  375 

safe  from  tlie  audacity  of  those  who  speak  unrighteouslv.  This, 
our  See  of  the  most  blessed  Peter,  in  which  Christ  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  his  Church,  is  most  grievouslj-  assailed;  and  the  bonds 
of  unity  are  daihj  more  iceakened  and  broke)}.  The  divine  au- 
thority of  the  Church  is  impugned,  and  her  rights  being  torn 
away,  she  is  subjected  to  earthly  considerations,  and  reduced  to 
a  base  servitude  ;  she  is  most  unjustly  exposed  to  the  hatred  of 
the  people.  The  obedience  due  to  bishops  is  infringed,  and  their 
rights  are  trampled  on.  The  academies  and  schools  resound  in  a 
dreadful  manner  with  nerv  and  nionstroKS  opinions,  bv  which  the 
Catholic  faith  is  no  longer  assailed  secretly  and  by  mining,  but  a 
horrible  and  impious  war  is  now  openly  waged  against  it.  For 
when,  by  the  instruction  and  example  of  the  teachers,  the  minds 
of  youth  are  corrupted,  the  destruction  of  religion  is  vast,  and 

the  vilest  corruption  of  morals  becomes  general 

"And  here  we  wish  to  excite  your  constancy  for  religion, 
against  a  most  shameful  conspiracy,  formed  against  clerical  ccl- 
ibaci/,  which  you  know  every  day  to  become  more  vehement, 
some  even  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  uniting  with  the  most  aban- 
doned philosophers  of  our  age  ;  and  who,  forgetful  of  their  char- 
acter and  office,  carried  away  by  the  blandishments  of  pleasure, 
have  proceeded  to  such  a  pitch  of  license,  that  in  some  places 
they  have  dared  to  address  public  and  reiterated  petitions  to 
princes,  to  destroy  this  holy  discipline.  Such  is  the  state  of  the 
Roman  Church  ;  full  of  infidelity,  immorality,  division,  uneasiness, 
innovations,  enslaved  by  the  civil  powers,  and  rent  internally  by 
Jansenism,  heresy,  schism,  and  indifference.  If  she  alone  consti- 
tuted the  Catholic  Church,  Christianity  would  indeed  be  at  the 
lowest  ebb,  and  the  gates  of  hell  would  almost  have  prevailed 
against  it."* 

Palmer  says : 

"  As  to  the  sanctity  of  doctrine  in  the  Roman  Church,  it  may 
be  observed,  without  denying  that  good  works  are  required  in 
theorj^  by  their  Church,  that  it  is  much  to  be  feared  holiness  is 
but  little  required  or  followed  in  practice  among  them.  It  is 
certain  that  there  are  many  doctrines  and  practices  common  in 
their  communion,  which  tend  to  injure  Christian  sanctity  and 
morality,  as  our  theologians  have  proved  in  the  case  of  purgatory, 
indulgences,  repentance  at  the  point  of  death,  attrition,  auricular 

*  See  Illustrations  of  the  End  of  the  Church,  by  the  Eev.  Augustus 
(/lissold. 


376  APPENDIX. 

confession,  expiatory  masses,  the  distinction  of  mortal  and  venial 
sins,  the  doctrine  of  probability,  ojnts  operatum,  equivocation, 
mental  reservation,  vain  repetitions,  idolatrous  worship  of  saints 
and  images,  &c.  We  know  that  some  of  their  members  reject 
most  of  what  is  bad  in  these  things,  but  they  are  held  and  prac- 
tised without  censure  by  others,  and  the  Roman  churches  have 
never  y«t  taken  any  effectual  steps  to  correct  the  abuses  preva- 
lent among  them. 

"  And  when  we  come  to  view  the  lives  of  Romanists,  we  see 
but  too  little  sanctity.  Even  at  the  beginning  of  last  century, 
things  had  proceeded  to  such  a  length  that  the  learned  Van  Es- 
pen,  professor  of  canon  law  in  the  University  of  Louvain,  declared 
that  '  the  discipline  of  the  Church  is  so  collapsed,  that  scarcely  a 
vestige  remains;  and  all  sorts  of  vices  have  so  prevailed  every- 
where, and  are  so  abundant,  that  they  are  regarded  as  nothinrf, 
and  the  people  drink  in  iniquity  like  water.'  This  deplorable  state 
of  immorality  has  since  that  time  been  rendered  still  worse. 
Without  disputing  that  there  are  many  good  men  among  them, 
it  may  be  asserted  as  a  matter  of  public  notoriety,  that  the  state 
of  morals  in  all  orders  of  society  in  the  Roman  Churches  of  Italy, 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  France,  is  immeasurably  degraded  and  cor- 
rupt; and  what  is  worse,  that  the  very  persons  whose  lives  are 
spent  in  the  most  infamous  vices,  are  assiduous  in  tlieir  attendance 
on  all  the  offices  of  the  Church  ;  that  they  are  constant  at  con- 
f(ission,  communicate  at  Easter,  and  then  revert  to  their  usual 
habits,  witliout  any  sense  of  compunction  for  the  profanations  of 
whicli  they  have  been  guilty.  The  banditti  of  the  Abruzzi  are 
lemarkable  for  attention  to  their  devotions.  The  harlots  and  as- 
sassins of  Spain  confess,  communicate,  and  return  to  their  sins. 
In  lieland  it  has  been  observed  that  murderers  have  frequently 
been  found  assiduous  in  all  the  services  of  their  religion. 

"  Everywhere  all  the  external  signs  of  an  ardent  devotion,  even 
to  tears,  are  found  united  with  a  systematic  moral  depravity.  I 
ask.  Can  that  be  a  sound  or  wholesome  system  which  teaches  men 
to  look  with  indifference  on  sin  ;  and  must  there  not  be  something 
wrong  in  a  mode  of  moral  instruction  which  can  lead  to  such  de- 
testable profanations  ?  It  is  a  melancholy  but  a  certain  truth, 
that  in  no  part  of  the  world  do  the  crimes  of  assassination,  rob- 
bery, murdei-,  adultery,  suicide,  rebellion,  so  fearfully  abound  as 
in  those  countries  where  the  Roman  Church  liolds  sway.  Such 
is  the  actual  sanctiti/  of  this  Church  in  too  many  of  her  members, 
and  it  certainly  places  her  beneath  both  the  Oriental  and  the 
British  Churches." — (See  Treatise  on  the  Church  of  Christ,  Vol. 
I.,  pp.  291-293.) 


ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    THE    END    OF    THE    CHUECH.  377 

Bishop  Hughes,  in  his  Lectiu'e  on  the  Dechne  of  Protestantism,* 
says : 

"  The  one  from  its  very  nature  was  calculated  to  endure  ;  the 
other  contained  the  seeds  of  dissolution  in  the  very  principle  upon 
which  it  was  founded — the  right  of  private  judgment,  and  the 
denial  of  all  authority.  This  inevitable  tendency  of  Protestantism 
to  decline  was  admitted  by  Protestant  writers  themselves,  and 
among  them,  by  Macaulay,  the  essayist,  the  reviewer,  and  the 
historian 

"  In  Germany  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  held,  if  held  at  all, 
only  by  a  few  and  by  the  ignorant,  but  as  for  your  great  men  and 
doctors,  they  have  no  conception  of  any  such  thing.  Rationalism 
ka.<i  taken  the  place  of  Protestantism,  although  they  still  claim  the 
ancient  name,  from  the  meaning  of  which  they  have  departed. 
If  you  sjxak  to  them  of  the  miracles,  they  were  all  done  through 
Mesmerism.  This  is  their  explanation  of  Scripture,  and  yet  they 
are  enjoying  all  the  emoluments  of  Protestantism,  the  old  bene- 
fices instituted  for  the  support  of  the  Catholic  clergy.  Do  you 
go  to  Switzerland  ?  In  Geneva  they  have  a  patron  saint,  not  Cal- 
vin, but  Rousseau  ;  and  his  statements  are  those  of  persons  calling 
themselves  Christians.  In  the  days  of  Calvin  a  man  would  be 
burned  to  death  for  denying  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity ;  at  the 
present  time  he  will  not  be  burned  to  death  for  believing  in  it, 
but  he  will  be  laughed  at.  Go  to  France,  and  travellers  Avill  tell 
you  that  the  churches  represent  a  mockery.  Go  to  Holland,  and 
the  same  thing  meets  the  eye.  Go  to  Sweden,  and  all  is  dark, 
and  cold,  and  dreary,  and  stiff  as  iron,  because  freedom  of  con- 
science is  a  thing  unknown.  We  read  of  a  man  of  genius  who 
wished  to  be  a  Catholic,  banished,  and  his  propei-ty  confiscated. 
Look  over  the  history  of  Protestantism  in  England.  See  Avhat 
that  country  has  passed  through  since  1667.  Protestantism 
there  seems  to  have  no  privilege,  and  if  you  look  for  any  propa- 
gation of  Protestantism  there,  you  will  look  in  vain.  It  is  a  long 
time  since  it  felt  the  necessity  of  attempting  something  like  what 
was  accomplished  by  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  conversion  of 
the  heathen ;  and  we  find  that  one  hundred  and  forty  years  ago 
missionary  societies  were  established,  but  what  they  have  doneis 
a  blank  as  far  as  histoiy  is  concerned.  We  know  that  within  our 
own  memories  millions  and  millions  of  money  have  been  received 
in  England  and  in  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  missions, 
all  of  Avhich  has  been  sacrificed,  with  thousands  of  missionaries,  in 

*  See  Lecture  delivered  in  the  City  of  New  York,  Nov.  10,  1850. 


378  APPENDIX. 

attempting  to  do  something  to  propagate  Protestantism,  and  I 
will  say  boldly,  all  without  success.  We  have  heard  much  of 
their  success  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  but  I  believe  it  Avill  be 
found  that  the  propagation  of  Protestantism  there  is  illusive.  We 
know  that  the  population  of  the  islands  has  diminished  one-half 
under  the  influence  of  the  missions ;  and  we  know  that  the  con- 
version of  those  that  remain  is  of  such  a  kind,  that  the  people  by 
law  are  driven  into  the  churches  with  canes.  These,  therefore, 
are  symptoms  of  decline.  It  is  declining  on  both  sides.  One 
side  is  the  decline  of  all  who  have  separated  from  its  primary 
doctrines. 

"  The  Protestants  have  no  land  of  freedom  except  these  United 
States,  and  here  they  have  the  kind  of  freedom  of  which  none  of 
the  advocates  of  Protestantism  have  reason  to  be  proud.  In 
eveiy  other  country  it  is  a  department  of  State.  You  may  speak  • 
of  its  bishops,  its  ministers,  and  its  dignitaries,  but  you  Avill  find 
that  they  have  no  tongue  except  that  which  the  minister  or  king 
puts  in  its  mouth.  Have  we  not  proof  of  that  in  England  ;  have 
w'e  not  seen  a  dispute  the  other  day,  between  a  presbyter  and  his 
bishop,  about  the  nature  of  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  a  doctrine 
which  was  settled  by  Christ  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  decided 
by  the  judge  on  the  bench?  In  that  dispute  the  bishop  had  no 
advantage  over  the  presbyter.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  opposed 
by  the  archbishop,  and  there  was  the  archbishop,  the  bishop,  and 
the  presbyter  professing  to  be  Protestants,  and  yet  thei/  could  not 
find  tvhat  the  doctrine  of  baptism  teas,  until  it  was  made  known 
to  them  by  a  civil  officer,  the  judge  on  the  bench. 

"Protestantism  still  numbers,  perhaps,  fifty  millions  of  men, 
many  of  them  the  most  enlightened  and  the  best  educated  in  the 
world,  yet  under  the  unhappy  auspices  of  the  first  principles  of 
Pi'otestantism,  and  if  God  would  make  known  what  were  their 
specific  creeds,  it  is  probable  that  not  ten  out  of  the  whole  nuinber 
could  be  found  on  all  points  to  have  the  same  belief,  in  regard  to 

the  substance  and  details  of  the  Christian  religion There 

are  other  causes  to  which  I  might  refer  if  time  allowed.  In  every 
country  the  Church  is  used  as  a  State  engine,  and  here,  Avhere  it 
is  not  so  used,  you  will  perceive  the  excess  and  fanaticisms  into 
which  it  runs.  What  is  New  England  now  ?  It  is  a  land  of 
skepticism.  The  very  pulpits  erected  for  the  purpose  of  preach- 
ing the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  have  been  used  for  preaching 
against  the  divinity  of  the  Son  of  God.  You  see  persons  declar- 
ing they  expect  to  see  gi'eater  men  than  Jesus  Christ,  and  you 
see  women,  the  sex  so  much  honoi-ed  by  God,  holding  conven- 
tions and  quarrelling  about  woman's  rights.    Look  at  Miller,  too  ; 


ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    THE    END    OF    THE    CHURCH.  379 

he  can  set  a  nation  crazy,  and  who  can  stop  him  ?  Where  is  the 
authority  in  the  Protestant  Church  to  say,  unhappy  man,  vou 
must  cease  !  So,  too,  with  Joe  Smith,  and  the  Mormons.  And 
where  is  the  authority  in  Protestantism  to  prevent  him  from 
sweeping  off  thousands  and  thousands  from  the  path  to  heaven  ? 
They  preach  from  tlie  pulpit  the  decisions  of  ecclesiastical  bodies. 
But  what  authoritij  are  theij  ?  All  is  gone — the  life  is  gone,  the 
soul  is  gone,  and  the  principle  is  gone,  if  there  was  any  principle 
except  that  which  was  calculated  to  produce  a  series  of  disputes 
and  contradictions  among  those  to  whom  God  had  bequeathed  as 
a  legacy  one  united  system  of  divine  revelation." 


Lord  John  Russell,  in  his  Letter*'  to  the  Bishop  of  Durham 
concerning  the  new  Catholic  Hierarchy,  says : 

"  There  is  a  danger,  howe^  er,  which  alarms  me  much  mox-e 
than  any  aggression  of  a  foreign  so\'ereigu. 

"  Clergymen  of  our  own  Church,  who  have  subscribed  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  and  acknowledged  in  explicit  terms  the 
Queen's  supremacy,  have  been  the  most  forward  in  leading  their 
flocks  '  step  by  step  to  the  very  verge  of  the  precipice  :'  the  honor 
paid  to  saints,  the  claim  of  infallihility  for  the  Church,  the  super- 
stitious use  of  the  sign  of  the  cross,  the  muttering  of  the  liturgy 
so  as  to  disguise  the  language  in  which  it  is  tvritten,  the  recom- 
mendation of  auricular  confession,  and  the  administration  of 
penance  and  absolution — all  these  things  are  pointed  out  by  clergy- 
men of  the  Church  of  England  as  worthy  of  adoption,  and  are 
now  openly  reprehended  by  the  Bishop  of  London  in  his  charge 
to  the  clergy  of  his  diocese. 

"  What,  then,  is  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  a  foreign 
prince  of  no  great  power,  compared  to  the  danger  within  the 
gates  from  the  unworthy  sons  of  the  Church  of  England  her- 
self?" 

Howitt,  in  his  History  of  Priestcraft  in  all  Ages,  says  of  the 
Church  of  England : 

"  The  established  clergy,  after  the  time  of  William  HL,  had 
nothing  to  do  but  to  secure  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  rev- 
enues, and  that  parochial  influence  Avith  which  they  were  in- 
vested ;  and  the  consequence  is,  that  they  have  become  the  rich- 

*  Nov.  4,  1850. 


380  APPENPTX. 

est  body  of  priests,  and  the  most  apathetic  toAvards  the  people 
from  Avhom  their  weaUh  is  drawn.  The  clerg}%  from  these  cir- 
cumstances, have  been  long  gradually  diverging  into  tAVO  classes  : 
one,  sunk  into  the  slumbrous  beds  of  enormous  wealth  and  gross 
hixury  ;  the  other,  into  the  miserable  slough  of  intenninable  toil 
and  poverty.  If  we  look  at  the  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  and 
at  the  description  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  Papal  Church  in  the 
latter  davs  of  universal  influX*nce,  can  we  avoid  being  struck  with 
the  coincidence  of  character  ?  '  They  pass  their  days  amid  the 
pleasures  and  cabals  of  courts,  and  appear  rather  the  slaves  of 
princes  than  the  servants  of  Him  whose  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world.  They  court  glory — they  aspire  after  riches — ivhile  very 
few  employ  their  time  and  labor  in  edifying  the  people,  or  in 
promoting  among  them  the  vital  spirit  of  religion ;  and  what  is 
more  deplorable"  those  bishops  who,  sensible  of  the  sanctity  of 
their  character,  and  the  duties  of  their  office,  distinguished  them- 
selves by  zeal  in  the  cause  of  \irtue,  are  frequently  exposed  to 
the  malicious  efforts  of  envy,  often  loaded  with  false  accusations, 
and  involved  in  perplexities  of  various  kinds.' 

"  But  it  is  not  the  bishops  alone  to  whom  this  applies.  These 
are  the  features  of  the  Establishment  as  they  appear  in  the  eyes 
of  the  people  at  lai-ge : 

"A  clergy,  in  part  overpaid  and  inactive;  in  part  overworked 
and  ill  paid. 

"  Loaded,  in  part,  with  opulent  sinecures  and  shameful  plurali- 
ties ;  the  greater  part  doing  the  duty  of  the  lazy  and  the  absent, 
on  a  paltry  pittance. 

"  Lukewarm  in  their  duties,  and  proudly  cold  in  their  inter- 
course with  the  poor  of  their  flocks. 

"A  clei-gy,  doggedly  adhesive  to  the  Establishment  as  it  is:  in 
spite  of  the  progress  of  the  public  mind,  adheiing  to  its  most  ab- 
surd and  most  impolitic  institutions,  rites,  and  dogmas.   .   .   . 

"  When  the  Romish  Chm-ch  was  utterly  corrupted,  Avhen  its 
priests  and  monks  were  the  scandal  and  the  scorn  of  all  men,  did 
the  Church  admit  it  ?  Did  it  reform  them  ?  When  Luther's  ar- 
tillery was  thundering  against  it,  and  shaking  it  to  its  foundations, 
did  it  admit  the  justice  of  his  attack?  Ko  !  it  only  tvmied  in 
rage  and  would  have  devoured  him,  as  it  devoured  all  other  re- 
formers. When  he  had  knocked  down  many  of  its  pillars,  blowm 
up  many  of  its  bastions,  laid  bare  to  public  scom  and  indignation 
its  secret  fooleries  and  horrors,  it  relaxed  not  an  atom  of  its  pre- 
tensions, it  abated  not  a  jot  of-  its  piide,  it  stayed  not  its  bloody 
arm,  shunned  not  to  proclaim  itself  still  holj',  invulnerable,  and 
supreme.      While  Dante  and   Boccacio  laughed  at  its  errors,  or 


ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    THE    END    OF    THE    CIIUECH.  381 

declaimed  against  its  abuses  in  its  own  territories ;  while  Erasmus 
in  the  Netherlands,  Chaucer  in  England,  and  Sir  David  Lindsay, 
the  Chaucer  of  Scotland,  were  pouring  ineffable  and  everlasting 
ridicule  on  its  monks,  its  priests,  and  pardoners,  they  Avere  told  ' 
that  theirs  was  but  the  retailing  of  vidgar  ignorance  and  envy  ; 
but  what  followed  ?  Time  proclaimed  it  Truth.  The  corrupted 
tribes  were  chased  away  by  popular  scorn  and  fury,  and  have 
left  only  a  name  which  is  an  infamy  and  a  warning. 

"  From  age  to  age  the  great  spirits  of  the  world  have  raised 
their  voices  and  cried  Liberty !  but  the  cry  has  been  drowned.  .  . 
But  at  length  light  from  the  eternal  sanctuary  of  truth  has  spread 
over  every  region  ;  into  the  depths  and  the  dens  of  poverty  it  has 
penetrated  ;  the  scholar  and  the  statesman  are  compelled  to  be- 
hold in  the  marriage  of  Christianity  and  Knowledge,  the  promise 
of  the  establishment  of  peace,  order,  and  happiness — the  reign  of 
rational  freedom.  We  are  in  the  very  crisis  in  xvhich  old  things 
are  to  he  pulled  down,  and  new  ones  established  on  the  most  ancient 
a/foundations — justice  to  the  people." 

Concerning  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  which  forms  so  im- 
portant a  part  of  the  theology  of  the  Old  Church,  we  find  the 
following.  Bishop  Butler  remarks  :  "  Neither  reason  nor  analogy 
can  show  how,  or  in  what  particular  way,  the  interposition  of 
Christ,  as  revealed  in  Scripture,  is  of  that  efficacy  Avhich  it  is 
there  represented  to  be.  .   .   . 

"How  and  what  particular  way  this  sacrifice  of  Christ  had  this 
efficacy,  there  are  not  wanting  persons  who  have  endeavored  to 
explain ;  but  /  do  not  find  that  the  Scripture  has  exp)lained  it. 
We  seem  to  be  very  much  in  the  dark  concerning  the  manner  in 
which  the  ancients  understood  atonement  to  be  made,  i.  e.  pardon 
to  be  obtained  by  sacrifices.  And  if  the  Scripture  has,  as  surely 
it  has,  left  somewhat  in  it  unrevealed,  all  conjectures  about  it 
must  be,  if  not  evidently  absurd,  yet  at  least  uncertain.  Some 
have  endeavored  to  explain  the  efficacy  of  what  Christ  has  done 
and  suff'ered  for  us,  beyond  what  the  Scripture  has  authorized ; 
others,  probably  because  they  could  not  explain  it,  have  been  for 
taking  it  away,  and  confining  his  office  as  Redeemer  of  the  world, 
to  his  instruction,  example,  and  government  of  the  Church,"  &c. 
— Butler  s  Analogy,  Part  IL,  Chap.  V. 

A  writer  of  one  of  the  Oxford  Tracts  also  observes  :  "  Viewed 
in  itself,  Christ's  death  is,  M'e  believe,  a  sacrifice  acting  in  some 

20 


382  APPENDIX. 

unknown  way  for  the  expiation  of  human  sin." — Rationalistic 
Principles,  No.  73,  p.  4-3. 

The  same  writer  observes  (p.  12),  speaking  of  the  Trinity,  In- 
carnation, Atonement,  and  merits  of  Christ,  &c.,  "  Each  of  these 
doctrines  is  a  mystery ;  that  is,  each  stands  in  a  certain  degree 
isolated  from  the  rest,  unsystematic,  connected  with  the  rest  by 
unknown  intermediate  truths,  and  bearing  upon  subjects  unknown. 
Thus  the  atonement,  why  it  Avas  necessary,  how  it  operates,  is  a 
mystery ;  that  is,  the  heavenly  truth  which  is  revealed  e.\tends 
on  each  side  of  it  into  an  i(nknoio;->.  world." 

Dr.  Hey,  speaking  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  death  of  Christ,  and 
the  two  different  views  taken  of  it  by  the  Socinians  and  the  or- 
thodox, observes:  "Both  parties  are  proceeding  in  one  way, 
though  they  may  be  helped  forward  by  different  motives.  Both 
own  tlie  mercy  of  God,  both  ascribe  to  it  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind, though  we  suppose  it  to  use  some  means  which  they  do 
not ;  but  of  these  means  our  ideas  are  so  indefinite,  as  to  produce 
propositions  nearly  unintelUyible,  the  nature  of  which,  we  know, 
is  such  as  to  diminish  greatly  the  difference  between  affirmative 
and  negative." — Norrisian  Lectures,  Vol.  III.,  p.  328  :  2d  edit. 

Dr.  Charnock  says,  in  his  attempted  explanation  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Atonement  and  sacrifices  : 

'•'  Indeed  sacrifices,  as  they  looked  backward,  could  be  no 
other  than  a  transcript  of  the  agreement  between  the  Father  and 
the  Son  ;  of  the  one's  paying  and  the  other  s  accepting  the  price 
of  blood  for  the  redemption  of  man  ;  and,  as  they  looked  for- 
ward, a  type  of  the  real  performance  of  the  sufferings  on  the 
one  part,  and  the  acceptance  of  them  on  the  other  part,  Avhen 
the  fulness  of  time  should  come  wherein  they  Avere  actually  to  be 
undergone.  This  tradition  of  sacrifices  was  handed  down  to  all 
nations  of  the  world  ;  but  the  knowledge  of  the  end  of  them  was 
lost." — {^Christ  Crucified,  p.  65.) 

"  If  we  consider  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  simply  in  itself,  without 
any  previous  order,  without  any  covenant  struck  between  the 
Father  and  the  Son  concerning  it,  he  was  not  obliged  to  have 
any  respect  to  the  apostate  creature  upon  the  account  of  it.  But 
after  a  covenant  struck  -between  them,  wherein  it  Avas  agreed 
that  Christ  should  lay  down  his  soul  as  a  ransom,  and  offer  him- 
self an  unblemished  sacrifice  for  the  sons  of  men,  and  that  he 
should  see  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  by  his  righteousness  justify 


ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    THE    END    OF    THE    CHLKCH.  383 

many  after  he  had  borne  their  iniquities  in  his  own  body  on  the 
tree,  God  could  not  but  accept  it,  imless  he  could  have  found  a 
spot  in  the  offering,  and  chai'ged  him  with  a  non-performance  of 
any  article  covenanted  between  tliem." — [Ibid.  p.  137.) 

"As,  therefore,  he  is  entered  into  hea\'en,  set  down  at  the 
right  hand  of  God,  and  has  maintained  the  plea  of  his  sacrifice 
for  so  many  hundred  years  since  he  first  entered  his  suit,  it  is  a 
proof  that  the  pleading  of  his  death,  and  the  sight  of  his  sacri- 
ficed body  is  not  iccarisome  and  distasteful  to  God." — [Ibid. 
p.  137.) 

Concerning  a  supposed  consultation  held  by  two  Gods,  or  God 
the  Father  and  God  the  Son,  and  which  it  is  believed  occurred 
before  the  creation  and  the  Atonement,  we  find  the  following  in 
Scott's  and  Henry's  Commentary  on  Genesis,  chap,  i.,  2(3,  27,  28. 
It  is  observed : 

"  God  himself  not  only  undertakes  to  make  (man),  but  is 
pleased  so  to  express  himself,  as  if  he  called  a  council  to  consider 
of  the  making.  Let  us  make  man.  The  three  2)ersons  of  the 
Trinity,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  consult  about  it  and  con- 
cur in  if.  Man,  when  he  was  made,  was  to  be  dedicated  to 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  Into  that  great  name  w^e  are 
with  good  reason  baptized ;  for  to  that  great  name  we  owe  our 
being.  The  three  first  persons  of  the  sacr6d  Trinity  at  first  con- 
curred in  counsel  and  operation,  in  forming  man,  as,  afterwards, 
in  his  recovery  from  the  fall." 

Another  writer,  and  who  is  not  a  New  Churchman,  being  un- 
willing to  believe  that  a  consultation  was  held  by  God  the  Father 
and  God  the  Son,  and  that  "  the  sight  of  the  Saviour's  sacrificed 
body  is  not  Avearisome  and  distasteful  to  God,"  says  the  whole 
of  the  modern  doctrine  of  a  substituted  victim  and  atonement* 
(a  word  which  is  but  once  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament)  is 
a  falsity  derived  from  heathen  sacrifices,  and  was  unknown  to  the 
primitive  Christians.     Thus  he  observes  : 

"  What  is  meant  by  justification  ?  Clearly  not  what  it  is 
claimed  to  be — a  work  wrought  for  the  sinner  by  Christ  giving 
himself  a  sacrifice  to  the  justice  of  an  off'ended  Deity.  The  only 
mistake  which  my  friend  and  his  evangelical  brethren  have  made 

*  See  Eoin.  v.  11.  In  this  case  the  word  atonement  is  used  to  signify  a, 
reconciliation. 


384  appp:ndix. 

on  this  subject  is,  that  they  have  unfortimately  adopted  an  old 
Pagan  sentiment,  instead  of  the  Xew  Testament  doctrine.  From 
remote  antiquity  the  practice  of  offering  sacrifices  to  their  gods 
to  appease  their  anger  and  obtain  their  favor,  has  prevailed  in 
Pagan  lands.  It  is  suscejjtible  of  the  clearest  proof  that  the 
whole  modern  theory  of  Atonement — of  a  substitute  for  the  sin- 
ner— is  a  heathen  doctrine.  It  is  one  of  those  corruptions  Avhich 
crept  into  the  Chinch  during  the  dark  ages,  when  it  was  over- 
Avhelmed  by  a  mountain  mass  of  Pagan  errors.  Among  the 
Trojans,  Greeks,  Romans,  and  other  heathen  nations,  human  vic- 
tims were  frequently  slaughtered  as  expiatory  vicarious  sacrifices, 
or  atonements  to  their  imaginary  deities.  Among  the  many 
gross  notions  which  the  multitudes  who  were  converted  from 
heathenism  to  Christianit}',  at  the  era  to  which  I  refer,  brought 
with  them  into  the  Church  of  Christ,  was  the  belief  that  the 
gods,  when  offended  by  man's  conduct,  coidd  be  propitiated  by 
sacrifices — especially  by  the  offering  of  human  beings.  This  no- 
tion they  incorporated  into  their  Christianity,  and  believed  that 
Christ  turned  away  the  anger  of  the  true  God  from  man,  by 
offering  himself  a  substitute  or  saciifice  in  their  behalf.  My 
friend  is  not  ignorant  of  the  fact,  and  will  not  deny  it,  that  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  at  that  time  became  greatly,  almo.st 
totally  corrupted,  by  the  flood  of  heathen  errors  which  poured  in 
upon  it. 

"  That  this  doctrine  of  justification,  or  atonement,  is  of  heathen 
origin,  is  further  evident  from  the  fact  that  it  was  not  known  in 
the  Christian  Chm-ch  for  two  hundred  years  after  the  death  of 
Christ.  Why  Avas  this  ?  Why  were  tnose  men  who  immedi- 
ately followed  the  Apostles,  in  ignorance  of  this  doctrine  ?  If  it 
is  a  ti-ue  one,  they  must  have  heard  Peter,  and  John,  and  Paul, 
and  others  of  the  Apostles,  proclaim  it,  as  do  our  evangelical 
brethren  of  the  present  day.  But  the  early  Fathers,  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  Apostles,  ivere  silent  on  the  subject ;  they  knew 
nothing  of  it.  My  friend  cannot  find  any  thing  in  relation  to  it 
in  their  writings.  This  shows  that  it  was  not  an  apostolic  doc- 
trine, and  should  now  be  rejected  as  a  heathen  dogma.'"* 

Another  clergyman  alluding  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement, 
and  of  man  being  justified  and  saved  by  faith  alone,  and  of  the 
connection  which  it  has  Avith  death-bed  repentances,  says : 

"  The  truth  is,  all  such  conversions  liave  upon  their  face  the 
evidence  that  they  are  the  product  of  fear ;  and  not  from  a  clear 

*  See  Ausfiri'f!  Seventh  Reply  on  the  AtoneTiicnt,  pp.  94,  95. 


ILLUSTRATIONS   OF   THE   END    OF   THE   CHURCH.         385 

and  rational  conviction  of  the  sinfulness  of  sin,  and  the  just  claims 
of  God  upon  them.  They  are  frightened  with  the  thoughts  of 
dying — their  fears  are  alarmed,  and  the  consequences  of  their  sins 
stare  them  in  the  face.  Often  in  this  excitement  they  profess  to 
be  converted.  Their  friends,  wiUing  to  catch  at  a  straw  to  save 
the  dying  ones  from  future  punishments,  encourage  them  to  be- 
lieve that  now  they  will  go  direct  to  heaven ;  and  in  this  persua- 
sion, true  or  i-ahe,  they  rejoice,  and  their  triumphant  death  is 
blazed  abroad  to  the  encouragement  of  other  sinners  to  think  that 
a  death-bed  is  time  enough  for  them  to  give  attention  to  the 
things  of  salvation. 

"  Far  be  it  from  me  to  limit  the  grace  of  God.  I  do  not  say 
all  these  death-bed  conversions  are  a  delusion ;  but  I  do  say,  as 
my  deliberate  conviction  from  the  teaching  of  the  Bible,  and 
thirty  years'  experience  and  observation,  that  there  is  no  depend- 
ence to  be  2)laced  iqwn  them.  It  is  barely  possible  that  in  some 
instances,  real  conversion  takes  place  ;  but  I  find  not  the  evidence 
in  Scripture,  that  I  would  dare  trust  to  such  a  preparation  to 
enter  the  kingdom  of  God.  I  know  some  will  point  to  the  case 
of  the  thief  upon  the  cross  as  opposed  to  my  views  ;  but  I  know 
that  they  have  not  another  solitary  example  in  the  Bible  to  a 
theory  {i.  e.,  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith)  that  has 
ruined  more  souls  than  almost  any  other  that  ever  ivas  promul- 
gated— viz.,  that  after  having  spent  their  Avhole  life  in  sin  and 
the  service  of  the  devil,  they  can  by  one  solitary  effort  obtain 
immortality,  eternal  life,  when  an  inspired  Apostle  declares  it  is 
by  a  patient  continuance  in  well-doing  Ave  are  to  expect  the  glo- 
rious prize." 

Another  writer,  in  respect  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement 
and  its  consequences,  says: 

"  A  greater  part  of  the  modern  Evangelical  theories  and  creeds 
are  but  a  grand  contrivance,  cunningly  and  adroitly  penned,  to 
allow  the  indulgence  of  wicked  passions,  and  to  shift  the  just 
punishment  from  the  guilty  to  ax  inxocent  substitute  !  .  .  . 
What  has  been  the  practical  effect  of  the  theory  (that  it  is  possi- 
ble for  man  at  any  time  to  be  saved)  upon  the  community  at 
large  ?  It  has  allured  millions  into  wicked  practices,  and  is  still 
doing  the  same  abhorrent  work  every  hour.  This  very  doctrine 
was  the  lying  sermon  preached  to  our  first  parents.  '  Ye  shall 
not  surely  die' — there  is  a  way  provided  whereby  ye  xa^j  com- 
mit sin,  and  be  saved  its  just  punishment At  the 

same  time  they  are  instructed  that  religion,  tlie  Gospel,  the  death 


386  APPEISTDIX. 

and  atonement  of  Christ,  are  designed  expressly  to  enable  them 

to  escape  that  hereafter  punishment The  wicked 

man  sees  he  may  sin  with  a  higii  hand — run  a  reckless  career  in 
ci-ime — indulge  in  every  species  of  wickedness— -lie,  steal,  rob, 
defraud,  plunge  into  licentiousness,  riot  in  pollution — yea,  even 
stain  his  hands  in  the  heart's  blood  of  his  brother  man,  and  yet 
at  the  last  hour,  while  standing  on  the  gallows  even,  by  reimit- 
ance  may  escape  with  perfect  impunity  all  punishment  hereafter! 
Aye,  he  is  taught,  that  swinging  from  the  gallows  imder  such 
circumstances,lie  ascends  (or  it  is  possible  to  ascend)  to  glory,  to 
shout  hallelujah  with  the  highert  angels  around  God's  throne ; 
while,  perhaps,  the  poor  victim  he  killed  in  an  instant,  giving  him 
no  opportunity  to  repent,  has  gone  down  to  hell.  .  .  .  ■  . 
And  this  is  really  some  men's  idea  of  moral  restraint,  God's  jus- 
tice, and  the  operation  of  a  perfect  government. 

"  It  is  the  solemn  conviction  of  my  heart,  that  those  denomina- 
tions who  nrtually  encourage  men  into  Avickedness,  by  continually 
proclaiming  and  insisting  that  punishment  can  be  easily  escaped, 
are  held  responsible  by  Jehovah  for  the  deleterious  effect  of  this 
theory  on  the  world.  I  believe  he  will  enter  mio  judgment  whh 
them,  for  the  great  e^dl  they  are  inflicting  on  society.  Yea,  he 
has  already  commenced  his  reckoning  with  them.  /  see  it  in  the 
low  state  of  religion,  the  indifference,  the  deadness,  which  jjrevail 
in  their  midst !  I  see  it  in  the  divisions  which  are  tearing  them 
asunder.     I  see  it  in  the  fact  that  some  of  the  largest  of  these 

sects  are  rapidly  decreasing I  plainly  behold  '  me- 

NE,  MENE,  TEKEL  UPHARSIN  !'  Written  all  over  the  walls  of  their 
spiritual  edifice.  They  have  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and 
found  wanting." 


APPENDIX    H. 

LIFE   AND   BIOGRAPHY    OF     SWEDENBORG,    TAKEN   FROM    THE 
PENNY    CYCLOPJBDIA. 

It  is  believed  that  no  writer  has  been  more  misrepresented 
than  Swedenborg.  Instead  of  examining  and  endeavoring  to  refute 
those  great  principles  upon  which  the  system  he  advocates  is 
founded — instead  of  attempting  to  show  there  is  not  a  necessity 
that  the  Scriptures  should  be  made  to  open  their  revelations 


LIFE   OF   SWEDENBOKG.  387 

with  new  light  and  beauty — that  his  views  concerning  the  Atone- 
ment, the  Trinity,  the  figurative  sense  of  the  Holy  Oracles,  are 
unscriptural  and  erroneous — little  or  nothing  is  said  concerning 
them ;  and  the  opponent  of  the  New  Chmxh  exerts  his  powers 
in  exhibiting  detached  parts  of  the  system,  and  holding  them  up 
to  ridicule.  So  far  has  the  misrepresentation  been  carried,  that 
it  has  been  publicly  taught  that  Swedenborg  was  a  dreaming 
visionary — that  his  WTitings  and  explanations  are  similar  to  the 
phrensied  ravings  of  the  inmates  of  a  mad-house — that  he  disbe- 
lieved in  future  rewards  and  punishments — that  he  put  the  Bible 
aside — that  his  followers  resemble  the  Mormons — that  (as  grave- 
ly asserted  by  the  Princeton  Review)  Swedenborgians  are  in 
the  habit  of  making  entertainments,  and  expect  and  believe  that 
the  spirits  of  their  departed  friends  will  appear  and  partake  of 
the  same ! ! 

But  in  regard  to  this  method  of  reply,  we  hardly  need  say 
that  the  time  has  gone  by  when  it  will  avail.  So  far  from  its 
acting  as  intended,  it  will  recoil  upon  its  authors,  and  more  effec- 
tually injure  them  and  assist  the  New  Church,  than  if  with  hon- 
esty they  had  attempted  a  fair  refutation.  This  can  but  be  the 
result ;  for  when  it  becomes  known  that  those  views  which  are 
now  openly  derided  as  the  ravings  of  an  insane  man,  constitute  a 
System  of  Theology  based  on  reason  and  the  Scriptures,  and 
which  for  method,  depth  of  thought,  and  power  of  expression 
has  few  or  no  equals,  and  treats  on  subjects  of  the  last  impor- 
tance, then  its  truths  will  act  with  tenfold  vigoi%  and  cover  with 
shame  and  confusion  of  face  those  who  have  so  ungenerously 
misrepresented  them. 

The  course  which  has  been  generally  adopted  by  the  opposers 
of  the  New  Chui'ch,  is  as  if  one  should  select  passages  from  the 
Scriptures — such  as  the  description  (found  in  the  Apocalypse  of 
St.  John)  of  the  great  red  dragon,  and  the  woman  clothed  with 
the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet ;  the  relation  of  the  mon- 
sters with  heads  like  lions  and  tails  of  serpents,  breathing  fire, 
smoke,  and  brimstone;  the  narration  concerning  the  Prophet 
Ezekiel,  and  of  his  being  commanded  to  make  an  unsavory  cake 
and  eat  it ;  the  picture  set  forth  in  the  Song  of  Solomon — and 
exhibit  these  statements,  joined  with  other  things,  as  a  fair  speci- 
men of  the  Bible,  and  of  the  Christian  religion.     It  is  well  known 


388  APPENDIX. 

there  are  passages  in  the  Scriptures  which  cannot  be  openly 
read,  and  arc  most  repugnant  to  modesty  and  even  decency. 
Noah  Webster  in  reference  to  this  subject  remarks : 

"In  no  respect  does  the  present  version  of  the  Scriptures  re- 
quire amendments,  more  than  in  the  use  of  many  words  and 
phrases  which  cannot  now  be  uttered  loithout  violence  to  decenc>/. 
In  early  stages  of  society,  when  men  are  savage  or  half  civilized, 
such' terms  Ire  not  offensive  ;  but  in  the  present  state  of  refine- 
ment, the  utterance  of  many  words  and  passages  of  our  version 
is  not  to  be  endured  ;  and  it  is  ^>-ell  known  that  some  parents  do 
not  permit  their  children  to  read  the  Scriptures  without  prescrib- 
ing to  them  the  chapters.  To  retain  such  offensive  language  in 
the  popular  version,  is,  in  my  -view,  injudicious,  if  not  unjustifi- 
able;  for  it  gives  occasions  to  unbelievers  and  to  ^Jersons  oflevitg, 
to  cast  contempt  upon  the  Sacred  Oracles,  or  call  in  question  their 
insjnration ;  and  this  weapon  is  used  with  no  inconsiderable 
force. 

"  Further,  many  words  and  phrases  are  so  offensive,  especially 
to  females,  as  to  create  a  reluctance  in  young  persons  to  attend 
Bible  classes  and  schools,  in  which  they  are  required  to  read 
passages  luhich  cannot  be  repeated  tvithout  a  blush  ;  and  contain- 
ino-  words  which  on  other  occasions,  a  child  could  not  utter  with- 
out a  rebuke.  The  effect  is,  to  divert  the  mind  from  the  matter 
to  the  language  of  the  Scripture,  and  thus,  in  a  degree,  fnistrate 
the  purpose  of  giving  instruction."* 

In  the  above  it  can  be  seen  that  this  eminent  writer  informs  us, 
in  reference  to  this  subject,  the  Bible  is  open  (and  in  no  small  de- 
gree) to  attacks,  yet  with  this  knowledge,  and  being  fully  aware 
that  there  are  many  who  are  totally  unacquainted  with  the  arti- 
fices, the  pitfalls,  and  snares  of  sophistry,  and  of  the  ability  which 
a  subtle  reasoner  possesses  in  being  able  to  pervert  the  most 
simple  ti-uth,f  the  opposer  uses  it  as  his  principal  weapon  by 

*  See  Preface  to  the  Bihle,  ipith  AvKndnunts  of  ihe  Language,  by  Noah 
Webster,  LL.D.,  published  at  New  Haven  in  1833. 

t  We  do  not  recollect  ever  perusing  the  writings  of  any  author  who  so 
often  cautions  the  novice  against  being  led  away  by  the  lures  and  arts  of  the 
sophist,  as  Swedenborg.  In  respect  to  this  subject  he  observes:  "The 
natural  man  can  confirm  what  he  pleases ;  this  is  manifest  from  the  many 
hei'csies  in  the  Christian  world,  each  of  which  is  confirmed  by  its  adlicrents. 
Who  does  not  know  that  evils  and  falses  of  every  kind  may  be  confirmed  ? 
It  is  possible  to  confirm,  and  the  wicked  do  confirm,  that  there  is  no  God, 


LIFK    OF    SWEDENBORG.  389 

whicli  he  may  assail  the  New  Church.  He  goes  so  far,  that  if 
one-half  of  his  conclusions  were  true,  they  would  not  only  over- 
turn Svvedenborg's  explanations,  and  exhibit  as  highly  improper 
those  medical  and  anatomical  works  which  treat  of  certain  sub- 
jects, but  would  hold  up  to  ridicule  a  belief  in  spiritual  things, 
particularly  our  faith  in  the  writings  of  many  of  the  accredited 
messengers  of  God,  such  as  Isaiah  and  St.  John,  who  wrought 
no  miracles,  and  whose  claims  as  divine  messengers  stand  on  the 
same  grounds  of  evidence  as  that  exhibited  by  the  Swedish  psy- 
chologist. 

For  the  purpose,  if  possible,  of  silencing  some  of  these  unjust 
statements,  those  infamous  representations  that  are  occasionally 
heard,  and  which,  among  other  things,  endeavor  to  convey  the 
impression  that  Swedenborg's  claims  are  unworthy  of  the  least 
attention,  and  are  so  considered  "  by  the  whole  world  ;"  we  shall 
adduce  the  opinions  of  those  who,  it  is  believed,  are  as  fully  capa- 
ble of  judging  him  as  the  learned,  astute,  and  unpi-ejudiced  "  pro- 
fessors of  theology  and  metaphysics,"  who  have,  in  a  brief  review 
of  a  few  pages,  condemned  him  as  unworthy  of  a  hearing.  The 
authority  to  which  we  allude  is  the  "  London  Penny  Cyclopsedia," 
a  work  which,  as  is  well  known,  Avas  published  by  the  society  for 
the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  has  among  its  list  of  editors  some 
of  the  most  distinguished  writers  that  the  age  affords.  These  gen- 
tlemen, so  far  from  classing  Svvedenborg.  with  the  leader  of  the 
Mormons  or  Joanna  Southcott,  and  informing  the  public  that  his 
system  and  explanation  of  the  Scriptm'es  is  one  which  is  contrary 
to  Christianity,  and  subversive  of  good  order  and  morality,  say 

and  that  nature  is  every  thing,  and  that  she  is  self-created  ;  that  religion  is 
only  a  means  whereby  simple  minds  may  be  held  under  restraint ;  that  hu- 
man prudence  does  every  thing,  and  Divine  Providence  nothing,  except  that 
it  maintains  the  universe  in  the  order  in  which  it  was  created ;  also  that 
murder,  adultery,  theft,  fraud,  and  revenge,  are  allowable,  according  to  Ma- 
chiavel  and  his  followers.  The  natural  man  can  confirm  these  and  such 
like  things,  yea,  he  can  fill  books  with  the  confirmations,  and  when  those 
falses  are  confirmed,  they  then  appear  in  infatuating  light,  and  truths  in 
such  obscurity  that  they  cannot  be  seen,  except  as  phantasms  by  night.  In 
a  word,  take  the  falsest  thing,  and  form  it  into  a  proposition,  and  tell  an  inr- 
genious  person  to  confirm  it,  and  he  will  confirm  it  to  tliefull  extinction,  of  tlie 
light  of  truth  ;  but  separate  his  confirmation,  return,  and  view  the  proposi- 
tion itself  from  your  own  rationality,  and  you  will  see  its  falsehood  and  de- 
formity."—D.  L.  &  W.,  267. 


390  APPENDIX. 

nothing  which  in  any  manner  will  bear  such  an  interpretation ; 
and  though  they  do  not  assert  that  his  claims  are  true,  yet  they 
evidently  give  the  reader  to  understand  there  is  nothing  impos- 
sible in  the  assumption,  and  that  they  are  in  every  respect 
worthy  of  serious  consideration.  We  give  the  extract  the  more 
Avillingly,  and  with  little  apology,  as  it  contains,  it  is  believed,  a 
strictly  impartial  review  and  reference,  and  one  which  is  not  ac- 
cessible to  all.  The  quotation  is  the  more  valuable  as  it  gives  a 
brief  biography  of  Swedenborg,  and  puts  to  silence  the  assertions 
made  in  respect  to  "  his  scientific  attainments."  The  oitation  is 
given  verbatim,  without  omission  or  alteration  in  any  part,  and 
Avhich,  without  further  observation,  is  submitted  to  the  American 
reader. 

"  SwEDEXBORG,  Emanuel  (the  second  child  and  eldest  son  of 
Jesper  Swedberg,  bishop  of  Skara  in  Westrogothia,  and  of  Sarah 
Behm,  daughter  of  Albert  Behm,  assessor  of  the  board  of  mines), 
was  born  at  Stockholm  on  the  29th  of  January,  1688.  [Swed- 
berg.] Of  his  childhood  and  youth  there  is  no  record,  excepting 
that  his  mind  was  early  occupied  by  religious  subjects.  '  From 
my  fourth  to  my  tenth  year,'  ^ays  he,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Beyer, 
'  my  thoughts  were  constantly  engrossed  by  reflecting  on  God, 
salvation,  and  the  spiritual  affections  of  man.  From  my  sixth  to 
my  twelfth  year,  it  was  my  greatest  delight  to  converse  with  the 
clergy  concerning  faith,  and  I  often  observed  to  them  that  charity 
or  love  is  the  life  of  faith,  and  that  this  vivifving  charity  is  no 
other  than  the  love  of  one's  neighbor.' 

"  Bishop  Swedberg  bestowed  great  care  on  the  education  of 
his  son,  which  he  received  principally  at  the  University  of  Upsala. 
He  was  uncommonly  assiduous  in  the  study  of  the  learned  lan- 
guages, mathematics,  and  natural  philosophy.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-two  he  took  his  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy,  and  pub- 
lished his  fiist  essay, — the  academical  dissertation  Avhich  he  had 
written  for  the  degree.  This  essay  is  entitled  '  L.  Annsei  Senecae 
et  Pub.  Syri  Mirai,  forsan  et  aliorum  selectee  sententise,  cum  an- 
notationibus  Erasmi  et  Graeca  Versione  Jos.  Scaligeri.  Quas  cum 
consensu  Am  pi.  Fac.  Philos.  notis  illustratis  sub  praesidio  Viri  am- 
plissimi  Mag.  Fabiani  Tomer,  Philos.  Theoret.  Prof.  Reg.  et  ord. 
publico  examini  modeste  submittit  Emanuel  Swedberg  in  audit. 
Gustav.  maj.  d.  1.  Jun,  1*709,  Upsalire.'* 

*  'Tie  dissertation  and  the  poems  were  edited  and  reprintcdin  the  year 
184-     (>y  Dr.  J.  F.  1.  Tafel,  at  Tubingen,  Wirtemberg. 


LIFE    OF   SWEDENBORG.  391 

"In  1710  Swedberg  came  to  London,  just  at  the  time  the 
plague  was  raging  in  Sweden,  when  all  Swedish  vessels  were 
commanded  by  proclamation  to  keep  strict  quarantine.  He  was 
persuaded  to  land  (probably  in  ignorance  of  the  regulation) ;  and 
he  has  recorded,  in  his  Itinerarium  of  these  travels,  that  he  nar- 
rowly escaped  being  hanged  for  this  offence.  He  spent  some 
time  at  Oxford,  and  lived  afterwards  for  three  years  abroad, 
chiefly  in  Utrecht,  Paris,  and  Griefswalde,  returning  to  Sweden 
in  1*714,  through  Stralsund,  just  as  Charles  XII.  was  commencing 
the  siege  of  that  city.  His  next  productions  were,  a  small  volume 
of  fables  and  allegories  in  Latin  prose  ('  Camsena  Borea,  cum  lie- 
roum  et  heroidum  factis  ludens,  sive  Fabella^  Ovidianis  similes, 
sub  variis  nominibus  scriptae  ab  E.  S.,  Sueco,  Liber  i.  Gryphis 
waldia?,'  1715),  ('Act.  Liter.  Suecise,'  vol.  i.,  p.  589),  and  a  col- 
lection of  Latin  poems  ('  Ludus  Heliconius,  seu  Carmina  Miscel- 
lanea, quce  variis  in  locis  cecinit  Eman.  Swedberg,  Skara').  In 
1716  Swedberg  commenced  his  '  Dtedalus  Hyperboreus,'  a  peri- 
odical record  of  inventions  and  experiments  by  Polhem  and  others, 
and  of  mathematical  and  physical  discoveries  of  his  own.  This 
work  was  published  at  Upsal,  in  Swedish,  in  six  parts  (the  fifth 
part  with  a  Latin  version) ;  it  is  said  to  contain  the  lucubrations 
of  a  scientific  society  which  was  instituted  by  Berzelius  among 
the  professors  of  the  university.  [JVov.  Act.  Reg.  Soc.  Scient. 
Upsal,  vol.  v.,  1792.)  In  the  course  of  1716  Swedberg  was  in- 
vited by  Polhem,  the  great  Swedish  engineer,  to  repair  with  him 
to  Lund  to  meet  Charles  XII.,  on  which  occasion  he  was  admitted 
to  much  intercourse  with  the  king,  who,  without  solicitation  on 
Swedberg's  part,  and  while  he  was  yet  at  the  university,  ap- 
pointed him  assessor  in  the  Royal  Metallic  College  of  Sweden. 
The  diploma  conferring  the  appointment,  dated  at  Lund,  the  18th 
of  October,  also  stated,  '  that  tlie  king  had  a  particular  regard  to 
the  knowledge  possessed  by  Swedberg  in  the  science  of  mechan- 
ics, and  that  the  royal  pleasure  was  that  he  should  accompany 
and  assist  Polhem  in  constructing  his  mechanical  works.'  These 
works  were  to  consist  of  the  formation  of  the  basin  of  Carlscrona, 
and  of  locks  between  Lake  Wener  and  Gottenburg,  among  the 
rapids  and  cataracts  at  Trolhiitta.  [Hist,  de  Ch.  XII.  dc  Nord- 
berg.  tom.  iv.  app.  n.  ccxxi.)  The  king  also  had  the  design  of 
uniting  his  engineers  by  closer  ties,  for  he  recommended  Polhem 
to  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Swedberg :  the  match,  how- 
ever, was  pievented  by  the  lady,  who  had  a  more  favored  suitor. 

"The  'Daedalus  Hyperboreus'  was  completed  in  1718,  in 
which  year  '  Swedberg  executed  a  work  of  the  gieatest  import- 
ance during  the  memorable  siege  of  Frederickshall,  by  transport- 


392  APPENDIX. 

ing  over  mountains  and  valleys,  on  rolling  machines  of  his  own 
invention,  two  galleys,  five  large  boats,  and  a  sloop,  from  Strom- 
stadt  to  Iderf  jol,  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles.  Under  cover  of 
these  vessels  the  king  brought  his  heavy  artillery,  Avhich  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  have  conveyed  by  land,  under  the  very 
walls  of  Frederickshall.'  (Sandal's  Eulog.)  Swedberg's  next 
literary  works  were,  1.  'The  Art  of  the  Rules'  (an  introduction 
to  Algebra,  of  which  a  full  analysis  may  be  seen  in  the  'Acta 
Literaria  Sueciae,'  vol.  i.,  p.  126  to  134) ;  only  a  part  of  this  work 
was  published :  the  manviscript  portion,  according  to  Lagerbring, 
contains  the  first  account  given  in  Sweden  of  the  Difterential  and 
Integral  Calculus;  2.  'Attempts  to  find  the  Longitude  of  places 
by  means  of  the  Moon.'  [A.  L.  S.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  27  and  315.) 
These  treatises  were  both  in  Swedish,  and  Avere  both  published 
at  Upsal  in  1718. 

"In  1719  he  was  ennobled  by  Queen  Ulrica  Eleonora,  under 
the  name  of  Swedenborg.  From  this  time  he  took  his  seat  with 
the  nobles  of  the  Equestrian  order  in  the  triennial  assemblies  of 
the  states.  His  new  rank  conferred  no  title  beyond  the  change 
of  name,  and  he  was  not,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  either  a  count 
or  a  baron :  he  is  always  spoken  of  in  his  own  country,  as  '  the 
assessor  Swedenborg.'  In  this  year  he  published  three  works  in 
Swedish:  1.  'A  Proposal  for  a  Decimal  Arrangement  of  Coinage 
and  Measures,  to  facilitate  Calculation  and  suppress  Fractions' 
(Stockholm)  ;  2.  '  A  Treatise  on  the  Motion  and  Position  of  the 
Earth  and  Planets'  (Skara) ;  3.  '  Proofs  derived  from  appear- 
ances in  Sweden,  of  the  depth  of  the  Sea,  and  the  greater  Force 
of  the  Tides  in  the  earliest  ages'  (Stockholm).  Occasional  papers 
by  him  appeared  in  the  'Acta  Lit.  Suec'  for  1720-21.  Two  of 
these  haxe  been  translated  into  English.  (See  Acta  Germanica, 
pp.  66  to  68,  and  pp.  122  to  124,  vol.  i.,  London,  1742.) 

"  In  the  spring  of  1721  he  again  went  abroad  through  Denmark 
to  Holland,  and  published  the  six  following  small  works  at  Am- 
sterdam;  1.  'A  Specimen  of  Principles  of  Natural  Philosophy, 
consisting  of  New  Attempts  to  Explain  the  Phenomena  of  Chem- 
istry and  Physics  by  Geometry'  (Prodromus  Principiorum  Rerum 
Naturalium,  sive  novoram  tentarainum  Chemiam  et  Physicam  ex- 
perimentalem  Geometrice  explicandi) ;  2.  'New  Obsen'ations  and 
Discoveries  respecting  Iron  and  Fire,  with  a  new  mode  of  con- 
stnicting  Stoves'  (Nova  Observata  et  Inventa  circa  feriiim  et  ig- 
nem  ;  una  cum  nova  camini  inventione) ;  3.  '  A  new  method  of 
finding  the  Longitude  of  Places,  on  Land  or  at  Sea,  by  Lunar 
Observations'  (Methodus  nova  mveniendi  Longitudines  Locoi-um, 
TeiTR  Marique,  Ope  Lunae) ;  4.  '  A  mode  of  constructing  Docks' 


LIFE   OF   SWEDENBORG.  393 

(Modus  construencU  Receptacula  Navalia) ;  5.  'A  new  way  of 
making  Dykes'  (Nova  Constructio  Aggeris  Aquatici)  ;  G.  '  A  me- 
chanical method  for  Testing  the  Powers  of  Vessels'  (Modus  Me- 
chanice  exjjlorandi  Virtutes  Na\-igiorum).  From  Amsterdam  he 
went  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Liege,  and  Cologne,  and  visited  the 
mines  and  smelting-works  near  those  places.  He  arrived  at 
Leipzig  in  1722,  and  there  pubhshed,  in  three  parts,  'Miscellane- 
ous Observations  on  Natural  Objects,  particularly  Minerals,  Fire, 
and  Mountain-strata'  (Miscellanea  Observata  circa  Res  Naturales, 
praesertim  mineralia,  ignem  et  montium  strata).  At  Hamburg, 
during  the  same  year,  he  published  a  fourth  part,  '  On  Minerals, 
Iron,  and  the  Stalactites  in  Baumann's  Cavern'  (Precipue  cu'ca 
mineralia,  ferrum  et  stalactitas  in  Cavernis  Baumannianis).  (Act. 
Eruditor.  Lipsiem.,  1723,  pp.  96-7.)  This  work,  like  those 
which  precede  it,  shows  a  rare  power  both  of  accumulating  facts 
and  applying  principles.  We  learn  from  it  that  Swedenborg, 
among  his  other  employments,  was  officially  appointed  to  visit, 
and  to  propose  for  selection  the  parts  of  the  Swedish  coast  Avhich 
were  best  htted  for  the  pi-eparation  of  salt ;  on  which  subject  the 
'Miscellaneous  Observations'  contain  an  admirable  business-hke 
memoir.  The  fourth  part  gives  the  substance  of  several  conver- 
sations between  Charles  XH.  and  Swedenborg,  in  which  the  king 
proposed  a  new  'sexagenarian  calculus.'  Swedenborg  made  the 
last  mentioned  tour  principally  to  gain  a  practical  knowledge  of 
niining.  At  Blankenburg  he  experienced  great  kindness  from 
Louis  Rudolph,  duke  of  Brunswick,  who  defrayed  the  whole  ex- 
pense of  his  journey,  and  at  his  departure  presented  him  with  a 
golden  medallion  and  a  weighty  silver  goblet.  After  being  abroad 
a  year  and  three  months,  he  returned  home,  and  in  the  course  of 
1722  he  published  anonymously,  at  Stockholm,  a  work  entitled 
'  Om  Swenska  Myntets  Fornedring  och  Forhojning'  (On  the  De- 
preciation and  Rise  of  the  Swedish  Currency'),  {Cat.  Blhl.  Up- 
sal,  Upsal,  1814)  ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  same  year  he  entered, 
for  the  hrst  time,  on  the  actual  duties  of  the  assessorship,  the 
functions  of  which  he  had  been  unwilling  to  exercise  before  he 
had  perfected  his  knowledge  of  metallurgy.  For  the  next  ten 
years  he  divided  his  time  between  the  business  of  the  Royal  Board 
of  Mines  and  his  studies.  In  1724  he  was  invited  by  the  con- 
sistory of  the  university  of  Upsal  to  accept  the  professorship  of 
pure  mathematics,  vacant  by  the  death  of  Nils  Celsius,  because 
'  his  acceptance  of  the  chair  would  be  for  the  advantage  of  the 
students,  and  the  ornament  of  the  universit}  ;'  but  he  declined 
the  honor.  In  1729  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Royal 
A-cademy  of  Sciences  at  Upsala.     In  1733  he  again  travelled 


394  APPENDIX. 

into  Geraianv.  It  seems  from  his  posthumous  '  Itinerarium' 
(edited  by  Tafel,  Tubingen,  1840)  that  he  visited  Berlin,  Dres- 
den, Prague,  and  Carlsbad,  and,  arriving  at  Leipzig  at  the  end  of 
the  year,  put  to  press  a  great  work  he  had  just  completed. 
During  the  printing  of  this  work  he  spent  twelve  months  in  visit- 
ing the  Au^strian  and  Hungarian  mines. 

"  Swedenborg's  '  Opera  Philosophica  et  Mineralia'  were  pub- 
lished in  IT 34,  in  3  vols,  folio,  at  Dresden  and  Leipzig ;  his 
patron,  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  at  Avhose  court  he  was  a  visitor, 
defrayed  the  cost  of  the  publication.  This  large  work  consists  of 
threedistinct  treatises.  The  first  volume  is  '  Principles  of  Natural 
Philosophy,  consisting  of  new  attempts  to  explain  tlie  phenomena 
of  the  elemental  world  in  a  philosophical  manner'  (Principia  Re- 
rum  Naturalium,  Sive  Novorum  Tentaminum  Phsenomena  Mundi 
Elementaris  Philosophice  expjicandi).  It  is  dedicated  to  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick,  and  has  an  engraved  likeness  of  the  author, 
belt  of  very  inferior  execution.  The  '  Principia'  is  an  attempt  to 
construct  a  cosmology  d  priori.  The  second  and  third  volumes 
are  together  called  the  '  Regnum  Minerale  ;'  the  second  is  on  iron, 
the  third  on  copper  and  brass.  They  treat  of  the  methods  em- 
ployed in  all  parts  of  Europe,  and  in  America,  in  preparing  and 
Avorking  these  metals.  Part  of  the  second  volume  has  been 
translated  into  French,  and  inserted  in  the  '  Description  des  Arts 
et  Metiers.'  Each  volume  is  subdivided  into  three  parts,  and  il- 
lustrated by  numerous  copper  engravings.  (For  an  opinion  6n 
the  practical  merits  of  this  work,  see  Mortimer's  Translation  of 
Cramer's  Elements  of  the  Art  of  Assaying  Metals,  p.  13,  2d 
edition,  London,  1764.)  In  the  same  year,  and  at  the  same 
places,  Swedenborg  published  '  An  Introduction  to  the  Philoso- 
phy of  the  Infinite,  and  the  Final  Cause  of  Creation ;  treating 
also  of  the  Mechanism  of  the  Operation  between  the  Soul  and 
the  Body'  ('  Prodromus  Philosophice  Ratiocinantis  de  Infinito,  et 
Causa  Finali  Creationis  ;  deque  Mechanismo  Operationis  Animee 
et  Corporis').  This  work  connects  his  cosmology  with  his  phy- 
siology. 

"  Swedenborg's  reputation  was  now  established  throughout 
Europe,  and  Christ.  Wolff,  and  other  foreign  literati,  eagerly 
sought  his  correspondence.  On  the  17th  December,  1734,  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  of  St.  Petersburg  appointed  him  a  corres- 
ponding member.  In  1736  he  again  travelled,  and  in  1738 
visited  Italy,  and  spent  a  year  at  Venice  and  Rome.  The  jour- 
nal of  his  tour,  from  1736  to  1739,  is  in  MS.  in  the  Academy  at 
Stockholm.  At  this  time  he  no  doubt  applied  himself  particu- 
larly to  anatomy  and  physiology,  of  a  masterly  acquaintance  with 


LIFK    OF   SWEDENBORG.  395 

Avliich  he  gave  evidence  in  his  '  Economy  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom' ('  CEconomia  Regni  Animalis'),  a  hirge  work  in  two  parts, 
4to,  which  he  pubHshed  at  Amsterdam  in  1740-41.  The  first 
part  treats  of  the  blood,  the  arteries,  the  veins,  and  the  heart, 
concluding  with  an  introduction  to  rational  psychology.  The 
second  part  treats  of  the  coincidence  between  the  motions  of  the 
brain  and  the  lungs,  of  the  cortical  substance  of  the  brain,  and  of 
the  human  soul.  In  1V41  he  became  a  fellow,  by  invitation,  of 
the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Stockholm,  the  Memoirs  of 
Avhich  he  enriched  with  a  paper  on  inlaying.  {Kongl.  Sivenska 
Wetens.  Acad.  Hand/inr/ar,  vol.  xxiv.,  pp.  107-113^)  He  still 
continued  earnest  in  the  pursuit  of  physiology,  and  in  1744  pub- 
lished the  '  Animal  Kingdom'  ('  Regnum  Animale'),  parts  i.  and 
ii.,  4to,  at  the  Hague,  and  in  1745,  part  iii..  in  London.  The 
first  part  of  this  work  is  an  analysis  of  tlie  abdominal  viscera  ;  the 
second,  of  the  thoracic  viscera  ;  the  last  part  treats  of  the  skin,  of 
the  senses  of  taste  and  touch,  and  of  organized  forais  in  general. 
The  plan  of  both  the  foregoing  works  is  peculiar  to  Swedenborg. 
Although  he  cultivated  anatomy  practically,  he  considered  that 
the  standard  authorities  of  his  time  were  more  to  be  relied  on 
than  his  own  dissections  {Econ.  R.  An.),  on  which  account  he 
premised  the  descriptive  statements  of  Heister,  Winslow,  Malpi- 
ghi,  Morgagni,  Boerhaave.  Leeuwenhoek,  Swammerdam,  &c.,  as 
his  basis  for  induction.  On  the  facts  supplied  by  these  authori- 
ties, he  built  his  own  superstracture,  which,  if  not  strictly  a  phy- 
siological one,  in  the  modern  meaning  of  the  word,  is  at  least  an 
elevated  and  original  system  of  animal  geometry  and  mechanics. 
These  great  Avorks  were  regarded  by  him  as  only  the  commence- 
ment of  a  work  in  which  he  designed  to  embrace  the  entire  circle 
of  physiology  and  psychology.     {Regn.  Anim.,  n.  14.) 

"At  the  beginning  of  1745,  Swedenborg  pubhshed  in  two 
parts,  4to,  '  The  Worship  and  Love  of  God'  {'  De  Cultu  et 
Amore  Dei')  ;  the  first  part,  on  the  origin  of  the  earth,  on  para- 
dise, and  the  birth,  infancy,  and  love  of  the  first  man  ;  the  second 
part,  on  the  marriage  of  the  first  man,  and  on  the  soul,  the  intel- 
lectual mind,  the  state  of  integrity,  and  the  image  of  God.  This 
book  is  a  sublimation  of  Swedenborg's  scientific  system,  with  a 
correlative  statement  of  his  psychical  doctrines,  in  which  both 
are  blended,  and  clothed  with  the  narrative  form ;  it  is  the  hnk 
between  his  physiology  and  a  class  of  doctrines  which  was  yet  to 
come. 

"  A  number  of  unpublished  scientific  MSS.,  written  by  him 
previously  to  tliis  period,  and  which  are  preserved  in  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences,  at  Stockholm,  manifest  his  industry  and 


396  APPENDIX. 

the  largeness  of  his  designs.  The  most  important  of  these  papers 
appear  to  be — '  De  Magnete,'  pp.  273,  4to  ;  '  De  Sale  Commu- 
ni,'  pp.  343  ;  '  Principia  Rerum  Naturalium,  ex  priori  et  posteriori 
educta/  pp.  5G9  ;  '  De  Sensatione,'  cap.  xiii. ;  '  De  Actione,'  cap. 
XXXV. ;  *  De  Cerebro,  Medulla  Oblongata,  et  Spinali,  de  Nervis, 
analytice,  physice,  philosophice  ;'  '  De  Aure  Humana ;'  '  Tracta- 
tus  Partium  Generationis  utriusque  Sexus,  et  de  Processu  Gen- 
erationis.'  (Intellectual  depositor)/,  January,  1836;  Hep.  of  Lon- 
don Printing  Society,  1841.) 

"  We  shall  now  endeavor  ^ o  take  a  brief  review  of  Sweden- 
borg's  scientific  progress,  with  particular  reference  to  method, 
principles,  and  doctrines.  His  proper  career  may  be  dated  from 
the  publication  of  the  'Prodromus  Principioram.'.  In  this  work 
he  attempted  to  account  for  chemical  combination,  by  a  thcor)-^ 
of  the  forms  and  forces  of  the  particles  of  bodies ;  and  to  resolve 
chemistry  into  natural  geometry,  that  it  might  have  the  benefit 
of  first  principles,  and  the  rank  of  a  fi.xed  science.  Of  these 
forms  he  gave  many  delineations.  (Plates  to  Prodr.  Princip.) 
He  broached  the  ingenious  doctrine,  that  the  particles  of  primary 
solids  are  moulded  m  the  interstices  of  fluids,  and  take  the  shape 
of  those  interstices ;  and  that  particles  so  modelled,  by  undergo- 
ing fracture  at  their  weakest  points,  give  ri.se  to  new  shapes, 
Avhich  become  the  initial  particles  of  new  substances.  He  antici- 
pated Dr.  WoUaston's  suggestion  of  the  spheroidal  composition 
of  crystals,  as  well  as  the  atomic  theory  of  Dalton,  and  even 
some  of  its  details,  as  when,  geometrically  predicting  the  com- 
posite natm'e  of  water,  he  assigned  to  it  the  equivalent  of  9. 
\Prodromus  Principiorum.) 

"  The  rules  which  he  proposed  for  investigating  the  constitution 
of  the  magnetic,  luminous,  and  atmospheric  elements,  come  next 
under  our  notice.  '1.  That  we  take  for  granted,  that  nature 
acts  by  the  simplest  means,  and  that  the  particles  of  elements 
are  of  the  simplest  and  least  artificial  forms.  2.  That  the  begin- 
ning of  nature  is  the  same  as  the  beginning  of  geometry ;  that 
natural  particles  arise  from  mathematical  points,  precisely  as  lines, 
forms,  and  the  whole  of  geometry ;  and  this,  because  every  thing 
in  nature  is  geometric;  and  vice  versa.  3.  That  all  the  above 
elements  are  capable  of  simultaneous  motion,  in  one  and  the  same 
place ;  and  that  each  moves  naturally  without  hindrance  from 
the  others.  4.  That  ascertained  facts  be  the  substratum  of 
theory,  and  that  no  step  be  taken  without  their  guidance.' 
{Miscell.  Ohs.,  part  iii.) 

"  From  these  rules  we  pass  to  their  application,  in  the  outset  to 
which  Swedenborg  boldly  averred  that  the  records  of  science, 


LIFE   OF  SWEDENBOKG.  397 

accumulating  as  they  had  been  for  thousands  of  years,  were  suf- 
ficient for  an  examination  of  things  on  principles,  and  a  priori ; 
that  a  knowledge  of  natural  philosophy  does  not  presuppose  the 
knowledge  of  innumerable  phenomena,  but  only  of  principal  facts 
which  proceed  directly,  and  not  of  those  which  result  obliquely 
and  remotely,  from  llie  world's  mechanism  and  powers ;  and  that 
the  latter  species  of  facts  confuse  and  disturb,  rather  than  infoi-m 
the  mind.  Also,  that  the  restless  desire,  from  age  to  age,  for 
more  facts,  is  characteristic  of  those  who  are  unable  to  I'eason 
from  principles  and  causes,  and  that  no  abundance  would  ever 
be  sufficient  for  sucli  persons.  [Princijyia,  de  Mediis  ad  Ver. 
Philos.,  p.  3,  4.)  The  following  is  a  statement  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  elemental  world  proposed  in  the  '  Principia :' — '  1.  In  the 
simple  (substance)  there  is  an  internal  state  and  corresponding 
effort  tending  to  a  spiral  motion.  2.  In  the  first  finite  which 
arises  from  it  there  is  a  spiral  motion  of  the  parts ;  so  also  in  all 
/  the  other  finites.  3.  From  this  single  cause  there  arises  in  every 
finite  a  progressive  motion  of  the  parts,  a  motion  of  the  whole  on 
its  axis,  and  if  there  be  no  obstacle,  a  local  motion  also.  4.  If  a 
local  motion  ensues,  an  active  arises ;  each  active  similar  to  the 
others.  5.  From  finites  and  actives  arise  elementaries,  each  so 
similar  to  the  others,  as  to  difter  from  them  only  in  degree  and 
dimension.  Thus  we  presume  the  existence  of  only  three  kinds 
of  entities — finites,  actives,  and  their  compounds,  elementaries,  of 
which  the  finites  occupy  the  surface,  the  actives  the  interiors. 
With  regard  to  tlie  finites,  one  is  generated  from  the  other,  and 
thej'  are  all  exactly  similar,  excepting  in  degree  and  dimension : 
thus,  the  fifth  finite  is  similar  to  the  fourth,  the  fourth  to  the 
third,  the  third  to  the  second,  the  second  to  the  first,  and  the 
first  to  the  simple ;  so  that  when  we  know  the  nature  of  one 
finite,  we  know  that  of  all.  Precisely  the  same  may  be  said  of 
the  actives  and  of  the  elementaries.  In  the  effort  of  the  simple 
towards  spiral  motion,  lies  the  single  cause  and  the  first  force  of 
all  subsequent  .existences.'  (Principia,  p.  450-1.)  Swedenborg 
first  states  these  doctrines  synthetically,  and  then  educes  the 
same  from,  and  confirms  them  by,  the  phenomena  of  nature. 
We  may  here,  with  propriety,  introduce  a  remark  from  Sandel : — 
'  He  thus  formed  to  himself  a  system  founded  upon  a  certain 
species  of  mechanism,  and  supported  by  reasoning  ;  a  system,  the 
aiTangement  of  which  is  so  solid,  and  the  composition  so  serious, 
that  it  claims  and  merits  all  the  attention  of  tlie  learned ;  as  for 
others,  they  may  do  better  not  to  meddle  with  it.' 

"  In  approaching  the  human  body,  he  again  insisted  on  the 
necessity  for  principles  and  generalization,   without  which,   he 


398  APPENDIX. 

said,  '  facts  themselves  would  grow  obsolete  and  perish ;'  adding, 
that  'unless  he  were  much  mistaken,  the  destinies  of  the  world 
were  leading  to  this  issue.'  A  knowledge  of  the  soul  became 
the  professed  object  of  his  inquiry,  and  he  'entered  the  circus 
with  a  resolve  to  examine  thoroughly  the  world,  or  microcosm, 
Avhich  the  soul  inhabits,  in  the  assurance  that  she  should  be 
sought  for  nov/here  but  in  her  own  kingdom.'  In  this  search 
he  repudiated  synthesis,  and  'resohed  to  approach  the  soul 
by  the  analytic  way,'  adding,  that  '  he  believed  himself  to  be 
the  fii-st  investigator  who  had  ever  commenced  with  tliis  inten- 
tion ;'  a  suraiise  in  which  he  is  probably  correct.  We  shall  here 
content  ourselves  with  a  brief  illustration  of  one  of  those  doctrines 
which,  '  with  the  most  intense  study,'  he  elaborated  for  his  gui- 
dance ;  we  mean  the  '  doctrine  of  series  and  degrees.'  Each  or- 
gan, he  observed,  commences  from  certain  unities  or  least  parts 
which  are  peculiar  to  it,  and  derives  its  form  from  their  gradual 
composition,  and  its  general  function  from  the  sum  of  their  par- 
ticular functions.  The  mass  is  therefore  the  representative  of  its 
minute  components,  and  its  structure  and  functions  indicate  theirs. 
The  vesicles  or  smallest  parts  peculiar  to  the  lungs,  are  so  many 
least  lungs  ;  the  bihary  radicles  of  the  liver,  so  many  least  livers  ; 
the  cellules  of  the  spleen,  so  many  least  spleens ;  the  tubuli  of 
the  kidneys,  so  many  least  kidneys ;  and  the  same  function  is 
prcdicable  of  these  leasts,  as  of  their  entire  respective  organs,  but 
with  any  modification  which  experience  may  declare  to  be  proper 
to  the  minuter  structures.  This  new  method  of  analysis,  in 
which  the  greatest  things  were  presumed  to  indicate  the  least, 
with  just  such  reservation  as  our  experience  of  the  least  necessi- 
tates, was  desiffned  to  throw  lioht  on  the  intimate  structure  and 
occult  offices  of  single  organs — the  same  Avay  identified  the 
higher  with  the  lower  groups  of  organs — the  cranial  Avith  the 
thoracic,  and  both  Avith  the  abdominal  viscera.  Whatever  is 
manifested  in  the  body  is  transferable  to  the  brain,  as  the  source 
of  all  functions  and  structures.  If  the  abdominal  oi-gans  supply 
the  blood  with  a  terrestrial  nourishment,  the  thoracic  supply  it 
with  an  aerial,  and  the  brain  with  an  ethereal  food.  If  the  first- 
mentioned  organs,  by  the  urinaiy  and  intestinal  passages,  ehmi- 
nate  excrements  and  impurities,  so  the  lungs  bv  the  trachea,  and 
the  brain  through  the  sinuses,  reject  a  subtler  defilement.  If  the 
heart  and  blood-vessels  are  channels  of  a  corporeal  circulation, 
the  brain  and  nerves,  or  spirit-vessels,  are  channels  of  a  transcend- 
ent or  spirituous  circulation.  If  the  contractility  of  the  arteries 
and  of  muscular  structures  depends  on  the  nervous  system,  it  is 
because  that  system  is  itself  eminently  contractile,  and  impels 


LIFE   OF   SWEDENBOEG.  399 

forward  its  contents  in  the  most  perfect  manner.  If  the  Imi^s 
have  a  respiratory  rising  and  falling,  and  the  heart  a  contraction 
and  expansion,  so  the  brain  has  an  animatoiy  movement,  -which 
embraces  both  the  motions  of  the  lower  series.  Thus  ever)' 
function  is  first  to  be  traced  to  its  essential  form  in  the  bosom  of 
its  own  organ,  and  thence,  through  an  ascending  scale,  to  the 
brain,  '  which  is  eminently  muscle,  and  eminently  gland ;  in  a 
word,  which  is  eminently  the  microcosm,  Avhen  the  body  is  re- 
garded as  a  macrocosm.'     {(Econ.  R.  A.;  Regn.  Anim.) 

^'  On  the  whole,  we  may  admit  these  works  to  be  a  grand  con- 
solidation of  human  knowledge ;  an  attempt  to  combine  and  re- 
organize the  opinion^  of  all  "the  schools  of  medicine  since  the 
days  of  Hippocrates.  The  doctrines  of  the  fluidists,  of  the  me- 
chanical and  chemical  physicians,  and  of  the  vitalists  and  solidists, 
as  well  as  the  methods  of  the  dogmatists  and  empirics,  and  even 
the  miscellaneous  novelties  of  the  present  day,  have  each  a  pro- 
portion and  a  place  in  the  catholic  system  of 'Swedenborg.  His 
works,  however,  are  a  dead-letter  to  the  medical  profession,  or 
known  only  to  its  erudite  members  through  the  ignorant  misstate- 
ments of  Haller.  (Haller's  Bihllotheca  Anaiomica,  torn,  ii.,  pp. 
328,  329,  Tiguri,  1777.) 

"  Swedenborg  was  in  his  iifty-eighth  year  when  he  published 
the  last  of  the  foregoing  -volumes,  and  from  this  period  he  as- 
sumed a  new  character,  of  which  he  gave  the  following  account : 
'I  have  been  called  to  a  holy  office  by  the  Lord,  who  most  gra- 
ciously manifested  himself  in  person"  to  me,  his  servant,  in °the 
year  1745,  and  opened  my  sight  into  the  spiritual  world,  endow- 
ing me  with  the  gift  of  conversing  with  spirits  and  angels.' 
However  repulsive  such  statements  are  to  the  generality  of  man- 
kind, they  are  not  d  priori  objectionable  to  those  who  admit  the 
inspiration  of  the  seers  and  prophets  of  the  Bible  ;  after  such  an 
admission  of  the  supernatural,  each  particular  case  of  the  kind 
becomes  a  simple  question  of  evidence.  The  event  above  alluded 
to,  happened  to  Swedenborg  in  the  middle  of  April,  1745,  at  an 
inn  in  London.  The  manner  of  its  occurrence  is  recorded  by  M. 
Robsahm,  director  of  the  bank  of  Stockholm,  who  was  a  trusted 
friend  of  Swedenborg,  and  had  the  narration  from  him  personally. 
(See  Robsahm's  Memoiren,  in  Tafel's  Stvedenborg' s  Leben,  pp.  8 
to  10,  Tubingen,  1842.)  From  this  period,  Swedenborg  entirely 
forsook  the  pursuit  of  science,  nor  does  he  once  allude,  in  hfs 
works  on  theology,  to  his  former  scientific  labors.  He  still, 
however,  took  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Diet,  and  in  that  of 
1761,  he  is  stated  by  Coimt  Hopken  to  have  presented  the  best 
memorial  on  the  subject  of  finance. 


400  APPENDIX. 

"He  returned  from  London  to  Sweden  in  August,  1745,  and 
immediately  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  Hebrew,  and  the 
diligent  perusal  of  the  Scriptures.  He  continued  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  Assessor  of  the  Board  of  Mines  till  1747,  when  he 
asked  and  obtained  his  majesty's  permission  to  retire  from  it ; 
adding,  also,  two  other  requests,  which  were  granted — that  he 
might  enjoy  as  a  pension  the  salary  of  the  othcc,  and  that  he 
might  be  allowed  to  decline  the  higher  rank  which  was  offered 
him  on  his  retirement.  The  materials  for  the  subsequent  part  of 
Swedenborg's  biography  are  exceedingly  scanty.  He  was  now 
either  activel}^  engaged  in  writing  his  tiieological  works,  or  was 
travelling  in  foreign  countries  to  publish  them.  When  he  was  at 
home,  he  had  a  house  in  the  environs  of  Stockholm,  with  a  large 
garden,  in  which  he  took  great  delight.  He  frequently  resided 
in  Amsterdam  and  in  London.  The  highest  personages  in  Swe- 
den testified  to  the  consistency  with  which  he  maintained  the 
assertion  of  his  spiritual  intercourse.  On  one  or  two  occasions, 
they  say,  he  gave  proof  of  his  professions.  Baron  Grimm,  after 
describing  him  as  '  a  man  not  only  distinguished  by  his  honesty, 
but  by  his  knowledge  and  intelligence,'  says  of  one  of  these  oc- 
currences, '  This  fact  is  confirmed  by  authorities  so  respectable, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  deny  it ;  but  the  question  is,  how  to  be- 
lieve it.'  {M^m.  Hist.  Lit.  et  Anecdot.,  &c.,  par  le  Baron  de 
Grimm,  tom.  iii.,  p.  56,  ed.  Lond.,  1813.)  The  Baron  spoke  of 
it  precisely  as  he  might  have  spoken  of  one  of  the  miracles  of  the 
New  Testament.  Lumanuel  Kant  sifted  another  of  these  stones 
to  the  bottom,  and  declared  that  Professor  Schlegel  had  informed 
him  that  it  could  by  no  means  be  doubted ;'  and  added,  '  they 
set  the  assertion  respecting  Swedenborg's  extraordinary  gift  be- 
yond all  possibility  of  doubt.'  (Darstellunr/  cles  Lebens  und 
Charakters  Immanuel  Kants,  Konigsberg,  1804.)  Swedenborg, 
however,  laid  no  stress  on  such  proofs,  '  because,'  said  he,  '  they 
compel  only  an  external  belief,  but  do  not  convince  the  internal.' 
During  his  latter  years.  Bishop  Filenius  and  Dr.  Ekebon  instiga- 
ted a  prosecution  against  him  in  the  consistory  of  GiJttenburg, 
whence  it  was  transferred  to  the  diet.  Dr.  Ekebon  denounced 
his  doctrines  as  '  full  of  the  most  intolerable  fundamental  errors, 
seducing,  heretical,  and  captious ;'  and  stated  furthermore,  that 
'  he  did  not  know  Assessor  Swedenborg's  religious  system,  and 
would  take  no  pains  to  come  at  the  knowledge  of  it.'  Sweden- 
borg came  out  of  these  trials  with  safety,  unaccused  by  the  diet, 
and  protected  by  the  king.  Towards  Christmas,  1771,  while  in 
London,  he  had  a  stroke  of  the  palsy,  from  which  he  never  per- 
fectly recovered.     A  report  has  been  circulated  that  he  recanted 


LIFE   OF   SWEDENBOEG.  401 

his  claims  during  his  last  illness  ;  but  this  is  a  mistake.  M.  Fe- 
relius,  minister  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Church  in  London,  who 
visited  him  on  his  death-bed,  and  administered  the  sacrament 
to  him,  wrote  as  follows  (the  31st  March,  1780)  to  Professor 
Tratgard  of  Greifswalde :  '  I  asked  him  if  he  thought  he  Avas 
going  to  die,  and  he  answered  in  the  affirmative ;  upon  which  I 
requested  him,  since  many  believed  that  he  had  invented  his  new 
theological  system  merely  to  acquire  a  great  name  (which  he  had 
certainly  obtained),  to  take  this  opportunity  of  proclaiming  the 
real  ti-uth  to  the  world,  and  to  recant  either  wholly  or  in  part 
what  he  had  advanced ;  especially  as  his  pretensions  could  now 
be  of  no  further  use  to  him.  Upon  this,  Swedenborg  raised  him- 
self up  in  bed,  and,  placing  his  hand  upon  his  breast,  said  with 
earnestness,  "  Every  thing  that  I  ha\-e  Avritten  is  as  true  as  that 
you  now  behold  me ;  I  might  have  said  much  more  had  it  been 
permitted  me.  After  death  you  will  see  all,  and  then  we  shall 
have  much  to  say  to  eacli  other  on  this  subject." '  (Ferelius,  Ueher 
Sivedenborg's  Ende,  in  Tafel's  Leben.)  Swedenborg  died  at  Lon- 
don, in  Great  Bath  Street,  Coldbath  Fields,  on  the  29th  of 
March,  1'772,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  His  body  was 
buried  in  the  Swedish  Church  in  Ratcliff  highway. 

"  The  following  is  a  list  of  his  theological  works: — 1.  'Arcana 
Coelestia,'  8  vols.  4to,  London,  1749  to  1756;  2.  'An  Accoimt 
of  the  Last  Judgment  and  the  Destruction  of  Babylon  ;'  3.  '  On 
Heaven  and  Hell;'  4.  'On  the  White  Horse  mentioned  in  the 
Apocalypse ;'  5.  '  On  the  Earths  in  the  Universe  ;'  6.  '  On  the 
New  Jerusalem  and  its  Heavenly  Doctrine,'  4to,  London,  1758 ; 
7.  '  The  Four  leading  Doctrines  of  the  New  Church — on  the 
Lord,  on  the  Holy  Scriptiu-es,  on  Life,  and  on  Faith  ;'  8.  '  A  con- 
tinuation of  the  Account  of  the  Last  Jvidgment ;'  9.  'On  the 
Divine  Love  and  Wisdom,'  4to,  Amsterdam,  1763;  10.  'On the 
Divine  Providence,'  4to,  Amst.,  1764;  11.  'Apocalypse  Re- 
vealed,' 4to,  Amst.,  1766  ;  12.  'Delights  of  Wisdom  concerning 
Conjugial  Love,  and  Pleasures  of  Insanity  concerning  Scortatoiy 
Love,'  4to,  Amst.,  1768;  13.  'On  the  Intercourse  "between  the 
Soul  and  Body,'  4to,  London,  1769  ;  14.  'A  brief  E.xposition  of 
the  Doctrine  of  the  New  Church,'  4to,  Amst.,  1769  ;  15.  '  True 
Christian  Rehgion,'  4to,  London,  l77l.  As  a  specimen  of  Swe- 
denborg's  interpretation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  reader  may 
consult  the  '  Apocalypse  Revealed  ;'  for  a  concise  view  of  his  al- 
leged experiences,  the  '  Heaven  and  Hell'  may  be  resorted  to ; 
for  a  view  of  that  part  of  his  system  which  relates  to  the  creation 
and  government  of  the  universe,  we  recommend  the  perusal  of 
the  'Divine  Love'  and  'Divine  Providence;'  for  his  doctrine  con- 

26 


402  APPENDIX. 

cerning  the  relation  of  the  sexes,  and  its  eternal  origin  and  per- 
petuity, and  for  his  code  of  spiritual  legislation  on  marriage  and 
divorce,  see  the  '  Conjugial  Love,'  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of 
these  works ;  finally,  the  student  will  find  a  compendium  of  the 
whole  of  the  theology  of  the  New  Church  in  the  '  True  Christian 
Religion,'  the  last  and  perhaps  the  finest  of  the  writings  of  Swe- 
denborg.  The  whole  of  these  works,  originally  published  in 
Latin,  have  been  translated  into  English,  and  some  of  them  have 
passed  through  several  editions  both  in  England  and  in  America. 
The  translations  are  contained  in  about  thirty  o'ctavo  volumes. 

"  Swedenborg's  Theological  MSS.,  which  are  presented  in  the 
Royal  Academy  at  Stockholm,  are  vciy  voluminous.  The  fol- 
lowing have  been  published  : — '  Coronis  ad  veram  Christianam 
Religionem,'  4to,  London,  1780  ;  '  Apocalypsis  Explicata,'  4  tom. 
4to,  Lond.,  iTSo,  6,  8,  9  ;  'Index  Rerum  in  Apocalypsi  Reve- 
lataram,'  1813;  '  Index  Verborum,  &c.  in  Arcanis  Ccelestibus,' 
1815  ;  '  Doctrina  de  Charitate,'  8vo.,  Lond.,  1 840  ;  '  De  Domino,' 
8vo.,  London,  1840;  'Canones  Novae  Ecclesiae,'  8vo.,  Lond., 
1840;  'Adversaria  in  Libros  Veteris  Testamenti,'  fasc.  i.  and  ii., 
Tubingen,  1840-41.  Among  his  yet  unpublished  papers  is  that 
called  his  '  Diarium,'  an  unreserved  record  of  his  experiences, 
ranging  over  a  period  of  sixteen  years.  The  first  two  volumes  of 
this" extensive  work  are  missing,  but  the  third  and  largest  is  in 
the  possession  of  the  '  Society  for  Printing  and  Publishing  the 
Writings  of  E.  Swedenborg,  instituted  in  London  in  1810  ;'  and 
whenever  it  is  published,  it  may  aftbrd  some  data  for  that  which 
is  at  present  unattainable,  a  theological  biography  of  the  author. 

"  Swedenborg  did  not  lay  claim  to  inspiration,  but  to  an  open- 
ing of  his  spiritual  sight,  and  a  rational  instruction  in  spiritual 
tilings,  which  was  granted,  as  he  said,  '  not  for  any  merit  of  his,' 
but  to  enable  him  to  convey  to  the  world  a  real  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  heaven  and  hell,  and  thus  of  man's  future  existence. 
According  to  Swedenborg,  heaven  and  hell  are  not  in  space,  but 
they  are  internal  and  spiritual  states,  so  that  inti-omission  into  the 
spiritual  Avorld  is  only  the  opening  of  an  interior  consciousness. 
The  outward  face  of  the  spiritual  world  resembles  that  of  the 
natural  Avorld  in  everj'^  particular,  and  man's  spiritual  body  ap- 
pears precisely  similar  to  his  natural  body ;  but  the  difference  is, 
that  all  the  objects  of  the  spiritual  Avorld  represent,  and  change 
Avith,  the  spiritual  states  of  its  inhabitants  ;  the  magnificent  ob- 
jects in  the  heavens  being  actually  determined  according  to  the 
good  affections  of  the  angels  ;  and  the  terrible  appearances  in  the 
hells  being  an  outbirth  of  the  evil  and  falsity  of  the  infernals. 
Heaven  and  hell  are  from  mankind,  and  all  angels  and  devils  have 


LIFE    OF   SWEDENBOEG.  403 

once  been  men,  either  on  this  or  other  planets,  for  all  the  planets 
ai-e  inhabited,  since  the  human  race,  and  the  formation  of  heaven 
therefrom,  is  the  final  end  of  creation.  The  Satan  and  Devil  of 
Holy  Scriptures  is  not  a  person,  but  a  collective  name  of  hell. 
The  '  last  judgment  mentioned  in  the  Gospels'  does  not  mean  the 
destruction  of  the  world,  which,  like  every  divine  Avork,  has  re- 
spect to  infinity  and  eternity,  and  will  endure  forever,  but  '  a 
judgment  in  the  spiritual  world,  since  all  who  die  are  gathered 
together  there,  and  since  it  is  man's  sinrit  which  is  judged.' 
This  judgment  commences  for  every  individual  immediately  after 
death.  Judgment  is  carried  into  eftect  on  a  church  when  its 
charity  is  extinct,  and  faitli  alone  remains ;  and  such  judgment  is 
attended  by  a  plenary  separation  of  the  good  from  the  evil,  that 
is,  by  a  formation  of  new  heavens  and  new  hells,  and  followed  by 
the  institution  on  earth  of  a  new  Church.  The  jiidgment  on  the 
first  Clu'istian  Cluxrch  took  place  in  the  year  1757  (so  Sweden- 
borg  informs  us),  and  was  witnessed  by  him  in  the  spiritual  world, 
after  which  commenced  the  descent  from  the  new  heaven  of  the 
new  cliurch  and  its  doctrine,  signified  by  the  Apocalyptic  New 
rFerusalem.  The  particulars  of  the  faith  of  this  church  on  the 
part  of  man  are :  1 .  '  That  there  is  one  God ;  that  there  is  a 
Divine  Trinity  in  Him,  and  that  He  is  the  Lord  God  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  2.  That  savins:  faith  consists  in  believins;  on  Him. 
3.  That  evil  actions  ought  not  to  be  done,  because  they  are  of 
the  devil,  and  from  the  devil.  4.  That  good  actions  ought  to  be 
done,  because  they  are  of  God  and  from  God.  5.  And  that  they 
should  be  done  by  man,  as  of  himself ;  nevertheless  under  the 
belief  that  they  are  from  the  Lord,  operating  in  him  and  by  him. 
The  two  first  particulars  have  relation  to  faith ;  the  two  next,  to 
charity;  and  the  last,  to  the  conjunction  of  charity  and  faith,  and 
thereby  of  the  Lord  and  man.'  Concerning  the  Word  of  God, 
Swedenborg  taught  that  in  its  origin  it  is  the  divine  truth  itself, 
infinite  in  the  Lord ;  tliat  in  proceeding  through  the  three  heav- 
ens, it  is  accommodated  to  the  recipiency  of  the  angels  by  suc- 
cessive veilings ;  that  in  the  highest  heaven  it  puts  on  an  appear- 
ance accommodated  to  angelic  affections,  and  is  there  read  in  its 
celestial  sense  ;  in  the  middle  and  lower  heavens,  it  is  clothed  by 
forms  adequate  to  tlie  intelligence  and  knowledge  of  the  angels 
there,  and  is  read  in  its  spiritual  sense  ;  and  in  the  church,  it  is  pre- 
sented in  a  natural  and  historical  form,  which  is  adapted  to  the 
understandings  of  men  on  earth.  This  last  fomi  thus  contains, 
and  corresponds  to,  a  spiritual  and  celestial  form  or  meaning, 
which  Swedenborg  declares  he  was  taught  by  the  Lord  in  the 
spiritual  world,  and  which  he  unfolded  at  length  in  his  great 


404  APPENDIX, 

w-ork,  the  'Arcana  Coelestia.'  'The  Books  of  the  Word,'  says 
Swedenborg,  'are  all  those  that  have  the  mternal  sense;  but 
those  which  have  not  the  internal  sense  are  not  the  Word.  The 
Books  of  the  Word  in  the  Old  Testament  are  the  five  Books  of 
Moses ;  the  Book  of  Joshua ;  the  Book  of  Judges  ;  the  two  Books 
of  Samuel ;  the  two  Books  of  Kings  ;  the  Psalms  ;  tlie  Prophets 
Isaiah  and  Jeremiah ;  the  Lamentations ;  the  Prophets  Ezekiel, 
Daniel,  Hosea,  Joel,  Amos,  Obadiali,  Jonah,  Micah,  Nahum,  Ha- 
bakkuk,  Zephaniah,  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi.  In  the 
jS'ew  Testament,  ]\Iatthew,  Mark,  Luke,  John,  and  the  Apoca- 
lypse.' Although  the  -WTitings  of  Paul  and  the  other  apostles 
are  not  in  this  list,  and  are  described  by  Swedenborg,  in  a  letter 
to  Dr.  Beyer,  to  be  '  dogmatic  (or  doctrinal)  writings  merely,  and 
not  written  in  the  style  of  the  Word  ;'  yet  in  the  same  letter  he 
says,  '  Nevertheless,  the  Writings  of  the  Apostles  are  to  be  re- 
garded as  excellent  books,  and  to  be  held  in  the  highest  esteem, 
for  they  insist  on  the  two  essential  articles  of  chanty  and  faith  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  Lord  himself  has  done  in  the  Gospels  and 
in  the  Apocalypse.'     (Swedenborgians.) 

"  Swedenborg  was  a  methodical  man,  and  laid  down  certain 
niles  for  the  guidance  of  his  life.  These  are  found  written  in 
various  parts  of  his  MSS.  as  follows : — '  1 .  Often  to  read  and 
meditate  on  tlie  Word  of  God.  2.  To  submit  eveiy  thing  to  the 
will  of  Divine  Providence.  3.  To  observe  in  every  thing  a  pro- 
priety of  behavior,  and  always  to  keep  the  conscience  clear. 
4.  To  discharge  with  fidelity  the  functions  of  his  emplo3'ment  and 
the  duties  of  his  office,  and  to  render  himself  in  all  things  useful 
to  society.'  On  these  precepts  he  formed  his  character.  Count 
Hopken,  prime  minister  of  Sweden,  says  of  him,  '  I  have  not  only 
known  Swedenborg  these  two-and-forty  years,  but  some  time 
since  frequented  his  company  daily :  I  do  not  recollect  to  have 
ever  known  any  man  of  more  unifomily  virtuous  character.'  San- 
del  says,  '  He  was  the  sincere  friend  of  mankind,  and,  in  his  ex- 
amination of  the  character  of  others,  he  was  particularly  desirous 
to  discover  in  them  this  virtue,  which  he  regarded  as  an  infallible 
proof  of  many  more.  As  a  public  functionaiy  he  was  upright 
and  just :  he  discharged  his  duty  with  great  exactness,  and  neg- 
lected nothing  but  his  own  advancement.  He  lived  in  the  reigns 
of  many  piinces,  and  enjoyed  the  particular  favor  and  kindness 
of  them  all.  He  enjoyed  most  excellent  health,  having  scarcely 
ever  experienced  the  slightest  indisposition.  Content  Avithin  him- 
self, and  with  his  situation,  his  life  was  in  all  respects  one  of  the 
happiest  that  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  man.'  Swedenborg  was  never 
married.     He  was  about  five  feet  nine  inches  high,  rather  thin, 


LIFK    OF    SWEDENBOKG.  405 

and  of  a  brown  complexion :  his  eyes  were  of  a  brownish-gray, 
nearly  hazel,  and  somewhat  small.  He  was  never  seen  to  laugh, 
but  always  had  a  cheerful  smile  on  his  countenance.  '  Many 
would  suppose,'  says  Ferelius,  '  that  assessor  Swedenborg  was  a 
very  eccentric  person ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  was  very  agree- 
able and  easy  in  society,  conversed  on  all  the  topics  of  the  day, 
accommodated  himself  to  his  company,  and  never  alluded  to  his 
principles  luiless  he  was  questioned  :  in  which  case  he  answered 
freely,  just  as  he  Avrote  of  them.  But  if  he  observed  that  any 
one  put  impertinent  questions,  or  designed  to  trifle  Avith  him,  he 
answered  in  such  a  manner  that  the  querist  was  silenced  without 
being  satisfied.'     (Ferelius  in  Tafel's  Leben.) 

(For  further  particulars  the  reader  may  consult  Sandel's  Eu- 
logium  to  the  Memory  of  Sicedenhorg,  pronounced  Oct.  7,  1772, 
translation,  London,  1834  ;  Documents  concerninq  the  Life  and 
Character  of  E.  Swedenborr/,  collected  by  Dr.  I.  F.  I.  Tafel,  Tu- 
bingen, and  edited  in  English  by  Rev.  I.  H.  Smithson,  London, 
1841  ;  Life  of  Swedenborg,  with  an  account  of  his  Writings,  by 
Hobart,  Boston,  U.S.,  1831  ;  Tafel's  Sivedenborg' s Leben,  now  in 
the  press  ;  The  Neio  Jerusalem  Magazine,  1790-91;  F.  Walden's 
Assessor  Sivedenborg' s  Levnet,  Adskillige  TJdtog  af  samnies  skriv- 
ter  nogle  blandede  Tanker,  tilligemed  Svedenborg's  System  i  kort 
udfog,  Kiobcnhaven,  1806  and  1820;  Lagerbring,  Sammandrag 
af  Swea-Rikes  Historia,  8vo,  Stockholm,  1778-80.) 

"  SwEDEXBORGiAxs,  the  people  who  believe  in  the  inission  of 
Emanuel  Swedenborg  to  promulgate  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Church,  signified  by  the  New  Jei-u.salem  in  the  Apocalypse. 
[Swedenborg.]  In  this  country  they  may  be  divided  into  two 
portions,  one  of  which  forms  the  denomination  known  as  such  to 
the  world ;  while  the  other  portion  remains  without  visible  sep- 
aration from  the  communion  of  the  Established  Church.  The 
first  public  association  of  the  Swedenboi'gians  took  place  in  1788, 
in  Great  Eastcheap,  London ;  since  that  time,  societies  have  been 
formed  in  nearly  all  our  large  towns,  until  they  now  amount  to 
between  forty  and  fifty.  These  send  delegates  to  an  annual  con- 
ference, which  publishes  the  'Intellectual  Repositoiy,'  a  periodical 
of  thirty  years  standing,  devoted  to  the  cause.  In  the  L^nited 
States  of  America  the  members  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church 
are  numerous  and  well-organized  ;  they  have  three  distinct  annual 
conventions,  of  which  that  for  the  Eastern  States  meets  at  Bos- 
ton ;*  that  for  the  Southern,  at  Philadelphia ;   and  that  for  the 

*The  "  General  Convention"  whicli  seems  to  be  iere  referred  to,  is  not 
exclusively  for  the  Eastern  States ;  and  its  meetings  are  usually  held  suc- 
cessively in  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Boston. 


406  APPENDIX. 

Western,  at  Cincinnati ;  and  they  publish  four  different  Sweden- 
borgian  periodicals.  In  France  the  doctrines  of  Swedenborg 
have  excited  much  attention,  parti}'  through  the  writings  of  his 
eloquent  disciple  Richer,  of  Nantes ;  and  through  the  French 
translations  of  Swedenborg's  works,  which  were  executed  by  J.  P. 
Moet,  and  published  by  .John  Augustus  Tulk.  In  Germany,  Swe- 
denborg  has  long  had  isolated  readers,  of  whom  the  most  cele- 
brated is  the  librarian  to  the  King  of  Wurtemberg,  Dr.  I.  F.  I. 
Tafel,  known  through  Germany  for  his  learned  editions  of  the 
works  of  Swedenborg,  for  his  translations  of  the  same,  and  for  the 
elaborate  Avorks  he  has  published  in  their  defence.  In  Sweden, 
bishops  and  doctors  of  the  Lutheian  Church  have  favored  the 
claims  of  Swedenborg :  a  writer  (Haldane)  on  the  state  of  re- 
ligion there,  gives  it  as  one  sign  '  of  the  pernicious  spirit  of  the 
times/  that  '  Swedenborgianism  makes  rapid  progress  among  all 
classes  of  society.'  Swedenborgianism  has  also  taken  deep  root 
in  several  of  the  British  colonies.  There  is  more  than  a  suspicion 
that  the  initiators  of  the  new  Oxford  theology  (the  editor  of 
Fronde's  '  Remains,'  and  others)  were  acquainted  with  the  early 
readers  of  Swedenborg ;  and  that  hence  originally  came  their  re- 
pudiation of  the  fundamental  Protestant  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith  alone. 

"  The  non-separatist  Swedenborgians  comprise  many  members, 
and  even  clergymen,  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  Rev. 
Thomas  Hartley,  rector  of  Winwick,  in  Northamptonshire,  the 
Rev.  John  Clowes,  rector  of  St.  John's,  Manchester,  and  the  Rev. 
William  Hill,  are  the  first  translators  of  the  large  works  of  Swe- 
denborg. The  chief  Avorks  in  English  in  recommendation  and  in 
defence  of  his  doctrines  are  those  of  CloAves  and  Hindmarsh ; 
Noble's  'Appeal  in  Behalf  of  the  Doctrines  of  the  New  Church,' 
and  '  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures ;'  Clissold's 
'  Letter  to  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  on  the  Practical  Nature  of 
the  Doctrines  and  alleged  Revelations  of  Swedenborg,'  and  '  Il- 
lustrations of  the  End  of  the  Church,  as  predicted  in  Matthew, 
ch.  xxiv.,  Avith  Remarks  on  the  Time  of  the  End,'  London,  1841. 
The  Swedenborgians  have  scA-eral  public  institutions,  the  most 
flourishing  of  which  is  that  entitled  the  '  Society  for  Printing  and 
Publishing  the  Writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  instituted  in 
London  in  1810,'  Avhich  annually  priiits  and  circulates  a  great 
number  of  his  AA^orks. 

"  There  is  also  a  London  Missionary  and  Tract  Society,  and 
Tract  Societies  at  Bath,  Birmingham,  Glasgow,  and  Manchester. 
That  at  Manchester  circulates  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  tracts 
in  the  year.     There  are  two  Liturgies  in  general  use  among  the 


LIFE    OF    SWEDENBOKO.  407 

Swedenborgians :  1.  The  'Book  of  Worship,'  Boston,  United 
States,  embod3'ing  a  very  simple  form  of  worship,  consisting 
chiefly  of  passages  from  the  Scripture,  and  chants  from  the 
Psalms ;  2.  The  '  Liturgy  of  tlie  New  Church,  prepared  by  or- 
der of  the  General  Conference,'  London,  which  is  used  through- 
out this  country,  and  contains  a  more  formal  service  than  that 
adopted  in  America.  From  the  latter  Ave  may  conveniently  bor- 
roAV  the  twelve  'Articles  of  Faith,'  'condensed,'  as  they  are, 
'from  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg,  adopted  by  the  General 
Conference,  and  recognized  as  a  standard  of  Doctrine  by  the 
whole  body  of  Swedenborgians.' 

" '  The  Articles  of  Faith  of  the  New  Church,  signified  by  the 
New  Jerusalem  in  the  Revelation,  are  these : 

"  '  1.  That  Jehovah  God,  the  creator  and  preserver  of  heaven 
and  earth,  is  lo^-e  itself  and  Avisdom  itself,  or  good  itself  and  truth 
itself :  that  he  is  one  both  in  essence  and  in  person,  in  Avhom, 
nevertheless,  is  the  Divine  Trinity  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Spirit,  which  are  the  essential  divinity,  the  divine  humanity,  and 
the  divine  proceeding,  answering  to  the  soul,  the  body,  and  the 
operative  energy  in  man ;  and  that  the  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ  is  that  God. 

"'2.  That  Jehovah  God  himself  descended  from  heaven  as 
divine  truth,  which  is  the  Word,  and  took  upon  him  human  na- 
ture, for  the  purpose  of  removing  from  man  the  powers  of  hell, 
and  restoring  to  order  all  things  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  all 
things  in  tlie  Church ;  that  he  removed  from  man  the  powers  of 
hell,  by  combats  against  and  victories  over  them,  in  which  con- 
sisted the  great  woik  of  redemption ;  that  by  the  same  acts, 
which  were  his  temptations,  the  last  of  which  was  the  passion  of 
the  cross,  he  united  in  his  humanity  divine  tiaith  to  divine  good, 
or  divine  wisdom  to  divine  love,  and  so  returned  into  his  divinity 
in  which  he  was  from  eternity,  together  with,  and  in  his  glorified 
humanity,  whence  he  forever  keeps  the  infernal  powers  in  sub- 
jection to  himself;  and  that  all  who  believe  in  him  with  the 
understanding,  from  the  heart,  and  live  accordingly,  will  be 
saved. 

'"3.  That  the  Sacred  Scripture,  or  Word  of  God,  is  divine 
truth  itself,  containing  a  spiritual  sense  heretofore  unknown, 
whence  it  is  divinely  inspired  and  holy  in  every  syllable ;  as  well 
as  a  literal  sense,  which  is  tlie  basis  of  its  spiritual  sense,  and  in 
which  divine  truth  is  in  its  fulness,  its  sanctity,  and  its  power: 
thus  that  it  is  accommodated  to  the  apprehension  both  of  angels 
and  men ;  that  the  spiritual  and  natural  senses  are  united,  by 
eori'espondences,  like  soul  and  body,  every  natural   expression 


408  APPENDIX. 

and  imaeje  answering  to,  and  including,  a  spiritual  and  divine 
idea ;  and  thus  that  the  Word  is  the  medium  of  communication 
with  heaven  and  of  conjunction  with  the  Lord. 

"  '  4.  That  the  government  of  the  Lord's  divine  love  and  wis- 
dom is  the  diWne  prondence,  which  is  universal,  exercised  ac- 
cording to  certain  fixed  laws  of  order,  and  extending  to  the 
minutest  pai'ticulars  of  the  life  of  all  men,  both  of  the  good  and 
of  the  evil ;  that  in  all  its  operations  it  has  respect  to  what  is  in- 
finite and  eternal,  and  makes  no  account  of  thuigs  transitory  but 
as  they  are  subseiTient  to  eternal  ends :  thus  that  it  mainl\-  con- 
sists, with  man,  in  the  connection  of  things  temporal  with  things 
eternal ;  for  that  the  continual  aim  of  the  Lord,  by  his  divine 
providence,  is  to  join  man  to  himself,  and  himself  to  man,  that  he 
may  be  able  to  give  him  the  felicities  of  eternal  life ;  and  that  the 
laws  of  permission  are  also  laws  of  the  di\'ine  providence,  since 
evil  cannot  be  prevented  without  destroying  the  natiire  of  man 
as  an  accountable  agent ;  and  because,  also,  it  cannot  be  removed 
imless  it  be  known,  and  cannot  be  known  unless  it  appear :  thus, 
that  no  evil  is  permitted  but  to  prevent  a  greater ;  and  all  is 
oveniiled,  by  the  Lord's  divine  providence,  for  the  greatest  possi- 
ble good. 

"  '  5.  That  man  is  not  life,  but  only  is  a  recipient  of  life  from  the 
Lord,  who,  as  he  is  love  itself  and  wisdom  itself,  is  also  life  itself; 
which  life  is  communicated  by  influx  to  all  in  the  spiritual  world, 
whether  belonging  to  heaven  or  to  hell,  and  to  all  in  the  natural 
world ;  but  is  received  differently  by  every  one,  according  to  his 
quality  and  consequent  state  of  reception. 

" '  6.  That  man  during  his  abode  in  the  world  is,  as  to  his 
spirit,  in  the  midst  between  heaven  and  hell,  acted  upon  by  in- 
fluences from  both,  and  thus  is  kept  in  a  state  of  spiritual  equi- 
librium between  good  and  evil,  in  consequence  of  which  he  en- 
joys free  will,  or  freedom  of  choice  in  spiritual  things  as  well  as 
in  natural,  and  possesses  the  capacity  of  either  tuniing  himself  to 
the  Lord  and  his  kingdom,  or  turning  himself  awav  from  the 
Lord  and  connecting  himself  with  the  kingdom  of  darkness ;  and 
that  unless  man  had  such  freedom  of  choice,  the  Word  would  be 
of  no  use — the  Church  would  be  a  mere  name — man  would  pos- 
sess nothing  by  virtue  of  which  he  could  be  conjoined  to  the 
Lord,  and  the  cause  of  evil  would  be  chargeable  on  God  himself. 

"  '  7.  That  man|at  this  day  is  bora  unto  evil  of  all  kinds,  or 
with  tendencies  towards  it :  that,  therefore,  in  order  to  his  enter- 
ing the  kingdom  of  heaven,  he  must  be  regenerated  or  created 
anew ;  which  great  work  is  effected  in  a  progressive  manner,  by 
the  Lord  alone,  by  charity  and  faith  as  mediums,  durintr   man's 


LIFE    OF    SWEDENBORG.  409 

co-operation :  that  as  all  men  are  redeemed,  all  are  capable  of 
being  regenerated,  and  consequently  saved,  every  one  according 
to  his  state  ;  and  that  the  regenerate  man  is  in  communion  with 
the  angels  of  heaven,  and  the  unregenerate  with  the  spirits  of 
hell :  but  that  no  one  is  condemned  for  hereditary  evil,  any  fur- 
ther than  as  he  makes  it  his  own  by  actual  life ;  whence  all  who 
die  in  infancy  are  saved,  special  means  being  provided  by  the 
Lord  in  the  other  life  for  that  piirpose. 

"  '  8.  That  repentance  is  the  first  beginning  of  the  Church  in 
man,  and  that  it  consists  in  a  man's  examining  himself,  both  in 
regard  to  his  deeds  and  his  intentions,  in  knowing  and  acknowl- 
edging his  sins,  confessing  them  before  the  Lord,  supplicating 
him  for  aid,  and  beginning  a  new  life  ;  that  to  this  end,  all  evils, 
whether  of  affection,  of  tliought,  or  of  life,  are  to  be  abliorred 
and  shunned  as  sins  against  God,  and  because  they  proceed  from 
infernal  spirits,  who  in  the  aggregate  are  called  the  Devil  and 
Satan ;  and  that  good  affections,  good  thoughts,  and  good  actions 
are  to  be  cherished  and  performed,  because  they  are  of  God  and 
from  God :  that  these  things  are  to  be  done  by  man  as  of  him- 
self;  nevertheless,  under  the  acknowledgment  and  belief  that  it 
is  from  the  Lord,  operating  in  him  and  by  him  ;  that  so  far  as 
man  shuns  evils  as  sins,  so  far  they  are  removed,  remitted,  or  for- 
given :  so  far,  also,  he  does  good,  not  from  himself,  bvit  from  the 
Lord ;  and  in  the  same  degree  he  loves  truth,  hath  faith,  and  is 
a  spiiitual  man;  and  that  the  Decalogue  teaches  what  evils  are 
sins. 

"  '  9.  That  charity,  faith,  and  good  works  are  unitedly  neces- 
sary to  man's  salvation :  since  charity,  without  faith,  is  not  spir- 
itual, but  natural ;  and  faith,  without  charity,  is  not  living,  but 
dead ;  and  both  charity  and  faith,  without  good  works,  are 
merely  mental  and  perishable  things,  because  without  use  or  fix- 
edness ;  and  that  nothing  of  faith,  of  charity,  or  of  good  works 
is  of  man,  but  that  all  is  of  the  Lord,  and  all  the  merit  is  his 
alone. 

"  '  10.  That  Baptism  and  the  Holy  Supper  are  sacraments  of 
divine  institution,  and  are  to  be  permanently  observed :  Baptism 
hehvf  an  external  medium  of  introduction  into  the  Cliurch,  and  a 
sign  representative  of  man's  purification  and  regeneration ;  and 
the  Holy  Supper  being  an  external  medium,  to  those  who  receive 
it  worthily,  of  introduction,  as  to  spirit,  into  heaven,  and  of  con- 
junction with  the  Lord ;  of  which,  also,  it  is  a  sign  and  seal. 

'"11.  That  immediately  after  death,  which  is  only  a  putting 
off  of  the  material  body,  never  to  be  resumed,  man  rises  again  in 
a  spiritual  or  substantial  body,  in  which  he  continues  to  live  to 


410  APPENDIX. 

eternity :  in  heaven,  if  his  ruling  affections,  and  thence  his  life, 
have  been  good ;  and  in  hell,  if  his  ruling  affections,  and  thence 
his  life,  have  been  evil. 

"  '  12.  That  vow  is  the  time  of  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord, 
which  is  a  coming,  not  in  person,  but  in  the  power  and  glory  of 
his  Holy  Word ;  that  it  is  attended,  like  his  first  coming,  with 
the  restoration  to  order  of  all  things  in  the  spiritual  world,  where 
the  wonderful  divine  operation,  commonly  expected  under  the 
name  of  the  Last  Judgment,  has  in  consequence  been  performed ; 
and  with  the  preparing  of  the  way  for  a  New  Church  on  the 
earth — the  first  Christian  Church  having  spiritually  come  to  its 
end  or  consummation,  through  evils  of  life  and  errors  of  doctrine, 
as  foretold  by  the  Lord  in  the  Gospels ;  and  that  this  New, 
or  Second  Christian  Church,  which  will  be  the  crown  of  all 
churches,  and  will  stand  forever,  is  what  was  representatively 
seen  by  John,  when  he  beheld  the  holy  city.  New  Jerusalem, 
descending  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a  biide  adorned 
for  her  husband.'  " 

(For  further  particulars,  see  Reports  of  the  Society  for  Print- 
ing and  FuMishinfi  the  Writings  of  the  Hon.  E.  Smdenborg, 
London,  n.  i.  to  xxxii.  (1810  to'l841)  ;  Reports  of  the  London 
Missionary  and  Tract  Society  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church,  n. 
i.  to  xxi.  (1821  to  1841);  Minutes  of  the  General  Conference  of 
the  Neio  Church,  signified  by  the  New  Jerusalem  in  the  Revela- 
tion, 1789  to  1841  ;  also  Tafel's  Magazin  fur  die  wahre  Christ- 
liche  Religion,  pp.  1  to  70,  Tubingen;  1841,  which  contains  an 
elaborate  accoimt  of  all  the  Swedenborgian  periodicals.) 


APPEIS^DIX    I, 


SUMMARY  OF  THE  DOCTRINES  OF  THE  TRUE  CHRISTIAN 
CHURCH. 

EXTRACTED    FROM    SWEDENBORG's    UNIVERSAL   THEOLOGY. 

OF  GOD  THE  CREATOR. 


OF     THE     UNITY     OF     GOD. 

I.  That  the  Holy  Scriptures  throughout,  and  the  doctrines  of 
all  Christian  churches  thence  derived,  mention  that 
there  is  a  God,  and  that  He  is  One. 
II.  That  there  is  an  influx  universal  from  God  into  the  souls 
of  men,  teaching  tliem  that  tliere  is  a  God,  and  that  He 
is  One. 

III.  Hence  that  there  is  no  nation  throughout  the  world,  pos- 

sessed either  of  religion  or  sound  reason,  but  what  con- 
fesseth  the  being  of  a  God,  and  that  He  is  One. 

IV.  That  the  nature  and  qualities  of  this  One  God  are  sub- 

jects respecting  which  various  nations  and  people  have 
differed,  and  do  still  differ,  in  their  sentiments,  and  this 
from  several  causes. 
V.  That  human  reason,  if  it  be  so  disposed,  may  collect,  and 
be  convinced,  from  the  various   objects  in  the  visible 
world,  that  there  is  a  God,  and  that  He  is  One. 
YI.  That  every  man,  who  doth  not  acknowledge  a  God,  is  ex- 
communicated from  the  Church,  and  in  a  state  of  con- 
demnation. 
VII.  That  no  doctrine,  or  worship  of  the  Church,  can  be  con- 
sistent or  coherent  where  more  Gods  than  One  are  ac- 
knowledged. 

OF    THE    DIVINE    ESSE,    WHICH    IS    JEHOVAH. 

I.  That  the  One  God  is  called  Jehovah  from  his  esse,  that  is, 
by  reason  that  He  alone  is,  was.  and  will  be,  and  be- 


412  SrMMAEY    OF   THE   DOCTRINES   OF 

cause  He  is  the  first  and  the  last,  the  beginning  and  the 
ending,  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega. 
II.  That  the  One  God  is  substance  itself,  and  form  itself ;  and 
that  angels  and  men  are  substances  and  forms  by  der- 
ivation from  Him ;  and  that  so  far  as  they  are  in  Him, 
and  He  in  them,  they  are  images  and  likenesses  of  Him. 

III.  That  the  divine  esse  is  esse  in  itself,  and  at  the  same  time 

existere  in  itself. 

IV.  That  the  divine  esse  and  existere  in  itself  cannot  produce 

another  divine  that  is  esse  and  existere  in  itself ;  con- 
sequently, that  another  God  of  the  same  essence  cannot 
be  supposed. 
V.  That  a  plurality  of  Gods  amongst  the  ancients,  and  also 
amongst  the  moderns,  had  its  rise  solely  in  consequence 
of  the  divine  esse  not  bemg^  understood. 


OF  THE  INFINITY   OF   GOD;    OR,   OF  HIS   IMMENSITY   AND  ETERNITY. 

I.  That  God  is  infinite,  by  reason  that  He  is  and  existeth  in 

himself,  and  that  all  things  in  tlie  universe  are  and  exist 

from  Him. 

II.  That  God  is  infinite,  by  reason  that  He  was  before  the 

world,  consequently  before  spaces  and  times  had  birth. 

III.  That  God,  since  the  world  was  made,  is  in  space  without 

space,  and  in  time  without  time. 

IV.  That  the  infinity  of  God,  in  relation  to  spaces,  is  called 

immensity,  and  in  relation  to  times  eternity ;  and  that 
yet,  notwithstanding  these  relations,  there  is  nothing  of 
space  in  his  immensity,  and  nothing  of  time  in  his  eter- 

nity- 
V.  That  enlightened  i-eason,  from  very  many  objects  in  the 

world,  may  discover  the  infinity  of  God,  the  Creator. 
VI.  That   God  is  omniscient,  that  is,  perceiveth,  seeth,  and 
knoweth  all  and  every  thing,  even  to  the  most  minute, 
also  whatsoever  is  done  contrary  to  order. 
V"II.  That  God  is  omnipresent  in  all  the  gradations  of  his  order, 
from  first  to  last. 
VIII.  That  man  was  created  a  form  of  divine  order. 
IX.  That  man  hath  power  against  evil  and  the  false,  from  the 
divine  omnipotence ;  and  wisdom  respecting  good  and 
truth,  from  the  divine  omniscience ;  and  is  in  God,  by 
virtue  of  the  divine  omnipresence,  only  in  proportion  as 
he  liveth  according  to  divine  order. 


THE   TRUE    CHRISTIAN    CHURCH.  413 


OF    THE    LORD    THE    REDEEMER. 

I.  That  Jehovah  God  descended,  and  assumed  the  humanity 

for  the  purpose  of  redeeming  and  saving  mankind. 
II.  That  Jehovah  God  descended,  as  divine  truth,  which  is  the 
Word ;  nevertheless,  that  He  did  not  separate  from  it 
the  divine  good. 

III.  That  God   assumed  the  humanity  according  to  liis  own 

divine  order. 

IV.  That  the  humanity,  b}'  which  God  sent  liimself  into  the 

world,  is  the  Son  of  God. 
V.  That  the  Lord,  by  acts  of  redemption,  made  himself  right- 
eousness. 
VI.  That  by  the  same  acts  the  Lord  united  himself  to  the 

Father,  and  the  Father  united  himself  to  Him. 
VII.  That  thus  God  was  made  man,  and  man  God,  in  one  pei*- 

son. 
VIII.  That  the  progress   towards  union  was  his  state  of  exin- 
anition. 
IX.  That  henceforth  no  Christian  can  be  admitted  into  heaven 
unless  he  believe  in  the  Lord  God  and  Saviour,  and  ap- 
proach Him  alone. 
A  corollary  concerning  the  state  of  the  Church  before  the 
coming  of  the  Lord,  and  after  it. 

OF    REDEMPTION. 

I.  That  redemption  itself  consisted  in  bringing  the  hells  into 
subjection,  and  the  heavens  into  order,  and  in  thus  pre- 
paring the  way  for  a  new  spiritual  Church. 
II.  That  without  such  redemption  no  man  could  have  been 
saved,  nor  could  the  angels  have  remained  in  a  state  of 
integrity. 

III.  That  thus  the  Lord  not  only  redeemed  men,  but  angels 

also. 

IV.  That  redemption  was  a  work  purely  divine. 

V.  That  this  real  redemption  could  not  possibly  have  been 

effected,  but  by  God  incarnate. 
VI.  That  the  passion  of  the  cross  was  not  redemption,  but  was 
the  last  temptation  which  the  Lord  endured  as  the 
grand  prophet ;  and  that  it  was  the  means  of  the  glori- 
iication  of  his  humanity,  that  is,  of  union  with  the 
divinity  of  his  Father. 
VII.  That  it  is  a  fundamental  error  of  the  Church  to  believe  the 


414  SUMMARY   OF   THE   DOCTRINES   OF 

passion  of  the  cross  to  be  redemption  itself ;  and  that 
this  error,  together  with  that  relating  to  three  divine 
persons  from  eternity,  hath  perverted  the  whole  Church, 
so  that  nothing  spiritual  is  left  remaining  in  it. 

OF    THE    HOLY    SPIRIT,    AND    OF    THE    DIVINE    OPEUATIOX. 

I.  That  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  divine  trath,  and   also  the 

divine  virtu^e  and  operation,  proceeding  from  the  one 
only  God,  in  whom  's  a  divine  trinity;  consequently, 
proceeding  from  the  Lord  God  the  Saviour. 

II.  That  the  divine  virtue  and  operation,  signified  by  the  Holy 

Spirit,  consists,  in  general,  in  refonnation  and  legenera- 
tion ;  and  in  proportion  as  these  are  effected,  in  renova- 
tion, vivification,  sanctification,  and  justification  ;  and  in 
proportion  as  these  are  effected,  in  purification  from 
evils,  remission  of  sins,  and  finally  salvation. 

III.  That'  the  divine  virtue  and  operation,  which  are  signified 

by  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  consist,  with  the 
clero'y  in  particular,  in  illustration  and  instruction. 

IV.  That  the  Lord  operateth  those  virtues  in  such  as  believe 

in  Him. 
V.  That  the  Lord  operateth  of  himself  irom  the  P'ather,  and 

not  vice  versa. 
VI.  That  the  spirit  of  man  is  his  mind,  and  whatsoever  pro- 
ceedeth  from  it. 
A  corollary. 

OF    THE    DIVINE    TRINITY. 

I.  That  there  is  a  divine  trinity,  consisting  of  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost. 

II.  That  these  three.  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  are  three 
.     essentials  of  one  God,  which  make  one,  like  soul.  body. 

and  operation  in  man. 

III.  That  before  the  creation  of  the  world  this  trinity  did  not 

exist,  but  that  it  was  provided  and  made  since  creation, 
when  God  was  made  incarnate,  and  then  ce-^tred  in  the 
Lord  God,  the  Redeemer  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

IV.  That  a  trinity  of  divine  persons  existing  f .  om  eternity  or  be- 

fore the  creation  of  the  world,  when  conceived  in  idea,  is 
a  trinity  of  Gods,  which  cannot  be  expelled  by  the  oral 
confession  of  one  God. 
V.  That  a  tiinity  of  pei-sons  was  unknown  in  the  Apostolic 


THE   TRUE    CPIRISTIAJ^    CHURCH.  415 

Church,  and  that  the  doctrine  was  first  broached  by  the 
Council  of  Nice,  and  thence  received  into  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  thus  propagated  amongst  the  Re- 
formed Churches. 
VI.  That  the  Nicene  and  Athanasian  doctrine  concerning  a 
trinity  have  together  given  birth  to  a  faith  which  hath 
entirely  perverted  the  Christian  Church. 
VII.  Tliat  hence  is  come  that  abomination  of  desolation,  and 
that  affliction,  such  as  was  not  in  all  the  world,  neither 
shall  be,  which  the  Lord  hath  foretold  in  Daniel,  and 
tlie  Evangelists,  and  the  Revelation. 
VIII.  That  hence,  too,  it  is   come  to  pass,  that  unless  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  Church  be  e.stabhshed  by  the  Lord, 
no  flesh  can  be  saved. 
IX.  That  a  trinity  of  persons,  each  whereof  singly  and  by  him- 
.self  is  God,  according  to  the   Athanasian  Creed,  hath 
given  birth  to  manv  absurd  and  heterogeneous  notions 
about  God,  which  are  merely  fanciful  and  abortive. 

OF    THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURE,    OR    WORD    OF    THE    LORD. 

I.  That  the  Sacred  Scripture,  or  Word,  is  divine  truth  itocif. 
II.  That  in  the  Word  there  is  a  spiritual  sense,  heretofore  un- 
known. 

1.  What  the  sph'itual  sense  is. 

2.  That  the  .spiritual  sense  is  in  all  and  in  every  part  of  the 

WorJ. 

3.  That  it  is  owing  to  the  spiritual  sense  that  the  Word  is  di 

vinely  inspired,  and  holy  in  every  syHable. 

4.  That  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word  iiath  lieretofore  remained 

unknown. 

5.  That  hereafter  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word  will  he  made 

known  unto  none  but  those  who  are  principled  in  genuine 
truths  from  the  Lord. 

III.  That  the  literal  sense  of  tlie  Word  is  tlie  basis,^]ie  con- 

tinent, and  the  firmament   of  its  spiritual  and  celestial 
sense. 

IV.  That  divine  truth,  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word,  is  in  its 

fulness,  in  its  sanctity,  and  in  its  power. 

1.  That  the  truths  of  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word  are  understood 

by  the  precious  stones,  of  which  the  foundations  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  were  built,  as  mentioned  in  the  Revelation,  chap. 
xxi.  17-21. 

2.  That  the  goods  and  truths  of  the  Word,  in  its  literal  sense, 

are  understood  by  the  uriin  and  thummim  on  Aaron's 
ephod. 


416  SUMMARY    OF   THE    DOCTRINES    OF 

0.  That  the  same  is  understood   by  the  precious  stones  in  the 

garden  of  Eden,  wherein  the  King  of  Tyre  is  said  to  have 
been. 

4.  That  truths  and  goods  in  tlieir  ultimates,  such  as  are  in  the 

literal  sense  of  the  Word,  are  represented   by  the  curtains, 
veils,  and  pillars  of  the  Tabernacle. 

5.  That  the  same  was  represented  by  the  externals  of  the  tem- 

ple at  Jerusalem. 

6.  That  the  Word  in  its  glory  was  represented  in  the  person  of 

the  Lord,  and  his  transfiguration. 

7.  That  the  power  of  the  Word,  in  its  ultimates,  was  represent 

ed  by  the  Nazaritcs. 

8.  Of  the  inexpressible  power  of  the  Word. 

V.  That  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  ought  to  be  drawn  from 
the  literal  sense  of  the  Word,  and  be  confirmed  by  it. 

1.  That  the  Word,  without  doctrine,  is  unintelligible. 

2.  That  doctrine  ought  to  be  drawn  from  the  literal  sense  of  the 

Word,  and  be  contirmed  tiiereby. 

3.  Tliat  genuine  truth,  whii'li  should  constitute  doctrine,  in  the 

literal  sense  of  the  Word,  is  apparent  only  to  those  who  are 
in  illustration  from  the  Lord. 

VI.  Thit  by  the  literal  sense  of  the  Wo.d  man  hath  conjunc- 
tion with  the  Lord,  and  consociation  with  the  angels. 
YII.  That  the  Word  is  in  all  the  heaven.s,  and  that  the  wisdom 
of  the  angels  is  thence  derived. 
VIII.  That  the  Churcli  cxisteth  from  the  Word,  and  that  with 
man  the  quality  of  the  Church  is  according  to  his  un- 
derstanding of  the  Word. 
IX.  That  the  marriage  of  the  Lord  and  the  Church,  and  thence 
the  marriage  of  good  and  truth,  is  in  every  part  of  the 
Word. 
X.  That  men  may  collect  and  imbibe  heretical  opinions  from 
the  letter  of  the  Word,  but  that  to  confirm  such  opin- 
ions is  hurtful. 
XI.  That  the  Lord,  during  his  abode  in  the  world,  fulfilled  all 
things  contained  in  the  Word,  and  was  thus  made  the 
Word ;  that  is,  divine  truth  even  in  ultimates. 
XII.  That  previous  to  the  Word  which  the  world  now  possess- 
es, there  was  a  Word,  which  is  lost. 

XIII.  That  by  means  of  the  Word  light  is  communicated  to 

those  Avho  are  out  of  the  pale  of  the  Church,  and  are 
not  in  possession  of  the  Word. 

XIV.  That  without  the  Word  no  one  would  have  any  knowledge 

of  God,  or  of  heaven  and  hell,  or  of  a  life  after  death, 
and  much  less  of  the  Lord. 


THE   TRUE   CHRISTIAN    CHURCH.  417 

THE    CATECHISM,   OR  DECALOGUE,  EXPLAINED  AS  TO  ITS    EXTERNAL 
AND    INTERNAL    SENSE. 

That  the  Decalogue,  in  the  Israelitish  Church,  was  the  very 
essence  of  holiness. 

That  the  Decalogue,  in  its  literal  sense,  containeth  general  pre- 
cepts of  doctrine  and  of  life ;  but  in  its  spiritual  and  celes- 
tial sense,  all  precepts  universally. 

That  the  Ten  Commandments  of  the  Decalogue  contain  all 
things  which  relate  to  love  to  God,  and  all  things  which 
relate  to  love  towards  our  neighbor. 

ON    FAITH. 

I.  That  saving  faith  is  a  faith  in  the  Lord  God  the  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ. 
II.  That  faith  in  general  consisteth  in  a  belief  that  whosoever 
liveth  a  good  life,  and  believeth  aright,  will  be  saved  by 
the  Lord. 

III.  That  man  receiveth  faith  in  consequence  of  approaching  to 

the  Lord,  of  learning  truths  from  the  Word,  and  of  liv- 
ing a  life  in  conformity  with  them. 

A  general  view  of  the  esse  of  faith,  the  essence  of  faith,  the 
state  of  faith,  and  the  form  of  faith. 

IV.  That  a  store  of  truths,  cohering  together  as  in  a  fascicle  or 

bundle,  exaltelh  and  perfecteth  faith. 

1.  That  the  truths  of  faith  are  capable  of  being  muUiplied   to 

intinitv. 
'2.  That  the  trutlis  of  faith  are  arranged  into  order  by  series,  and 

thus,  as  it  were,  into  fiiscicles  or  bundles. 

3.  That  faith  is  perfectud   in  proportion  to  the   number  and  co- 

herence of  tiutlis. 

4.  That  the  trutlis  of  faitli,  howsoever  numerous  they  may  be, 

and  howsoever  different  tliey  may  appear,  yet  make  a  one, 
and  are  united  by  and  from  "the  Lord,  who  is  the  Word,  the 
God  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  God  of  all  flesh,  the  God  of 
the  vineyard  or  Church,  the  God  of  faith,  and  the  essential 
light,  truth,  and  life  eternal. 

V.  That  faith  without  charity  is  not  faith,  and  that  charity 
without  faith  is  not  charity  ;  and  that  neither  faith  nor 
charity  hath  any  life  in  it  but  ftom  the  Lord. 

1.  That  man  hath  power  to  procure  faith  for  himself. 

2.  That  man  hath  p<nver  to  procure  charity  for  himself. 

27 


418  SUMMARY   OF   THE   DOCTRINES    OF 

3.  That  man  hath  power  also  to  procure  for  himself  the  life  of 

faith  and  charity. 

4.  That  nevertheless,  nothing  of  faith,  nothing  of  charity,  and 

nothing  of  the  life  of  each,  is  from  man,  but  from  the  Lord 
alone. 

VI.  That  the  Lord,  chanty,  and  faith,  constitute  a  One,  Uke 
life,  Avill,  and  understanding  in  man  ;  and  that  in  case 
they  are  divided,  each  perislieth,  hke  a  pearl  bruised  to 
powder. 

1.  That  the   Lord,  with  all  his  divine   love,  all  his  divine  wis- 

dom, and  all  liis  didne  life,  entereth  by  influx  into  every 
man. 

2.  Consequently,  the  Lord  entereth  by  influx  into  every  man, 

with  the  whole  essence  of  faith  and  charity. 

3.  That  the  things  wliich  enter  by  influx  from  the  Lord,  are  re- 

ceived by  man  according  to  his  form. 

4.  But  that   man,  who  divideth  the  Lord,  charity,  and   faith,  is 

not  a  form  receptive,  but  a  form  destructive  of  them. 

VII.  That  the  Lord  is  charity  and  faith  in  man,  and  that  man 
is  charity  and  faith  in  the  Lord. 

1.  That  conjunction  with  God  is  the  medium  by  which  man  hath 

salvation  and  eternal  life. 

2.  That  conjunction  with  God   the   Father  is  not   possible,  but 

with  the  Lord,  and  by  liiin  with  God  the  Father. 

3.  That  conjunction  with  the  Lord  is  reciprocal ;  that  is,  that  the 

Lord  is  in  man,  and  man  ni  the  Lord. 

4.  That    this  reciprocal    conjunction  of  the   Lord   and   man  is 

effected  by  means  of  charity  and  faith. 

VIII.  That  charity  and  faith  are  together  in  good  works. 

1.  That  charity  consistetli  in  willing  wliat  is  good,  and  that  good 

works  consist  in  doing  wliat  is  good,  from  and  under  the  in- 
fluence of  such  a  good  will. 

2.  That   charity  and   faith   are   merely  mental  and   perishable 

things,  unless  tiiey  be  determined  to  works,  and  coexist  in 
them,  wliensoever  it  is  practicable. 

3.  That   cliarity  alone  doth   not   produce  good  works,  still   less 

doth  faith  alone ;  but  that  charity  and  faith  together  do 
produce  them. 

IX.  That  there  is  true  faith,  spurious  faith,  and  hypocritical 
faith. 

1.  That  tliere  is  only  one  true  faith,  and  that  it  is  directed  to- 

wards the  Lord  God  the  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that 
it  abideth  with  those  who  believe  Him  to  be  the  Son 
of  God,  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  one  with  the 
Father. 

2.  That  a  spurious  faith  is  every  faith   that  departs   from   the 

only  true  faith,  and  that  it  abideth  with  tliose  who  climb  up 


THE   TRUE   CHKISTIAN   CHURCH.  419 

some  other  way,  and  regard  the  Lord  not  as  God,  but  as  a 
mere  man. 
3.  That  hypocritical  faith  is  no  faith. 

X.  That  there  is  no  faith  amongst  the  wicked.  "^ 

1.  That  the  wicked  liave  no  faith,  because  wickedness  is  of  hell, 

and  faitli  is  of  heaven. 

2.  That  throughout   all  Christendom  there  is  no  faith   amongst 

those  who  reject  the  Lord  and  the  Word,  notwithstanding 
the  morality  and  rationality  of  their  hves,  and  that  they 
even  speak,  and  teach,  and  write  about  faith. 

OF    CHARITY,   OR    LOVE    TOWARDS    OUR    NEIGHBOR,    AND    OF    GOOD 

WORKS. 

I.  That  there  are  three  universal  loves  :  the  love  of  heaven, 
the  love  of  the  world,  and  the  love  of  self. 

1.  Of  the  will  and  the  understanding. 

2.  Of  good  and  truth. 

3.  Of  love  in  general. 

4.  Of  the  love  of  self  and  the  love  of  the  worlcj  in  particular. 

5.  Of  the  internal  and  external  man. 

6.  Of  the  mere  natural  and  sensual  man. 

II.  That  those  three  loves,  when  they  are  in  right  subordi- 
nation, make  man  perfect ;  but  when  they  are  not  in 
right  subordination,  they  pervert  and  invert  him. 

III.  That  every  individual  man  is   the  neighbor  whom  we 

ought  to  love,  but  according  to  the  quality  of  his  good. 

IV.  That  man  considered  collectively,  that  is,  as  a  lesser  or 

larger  society,  and  considered  imder  the  idea  of  com- 
pound societies,  that  is,  as  our  country,  is  the  neigh- 
bor who  ought  to  be  loved. 
V.  That  the  Church  is  our  neighbor,  whom  Ave  are  bound  to 
love  in  a  high  degree  ;  and  that  the  kingdom  of  the 
Lord  is  our  neighbor,  and  ought  to  be  loved  in  the 
highest  degree. 
VI.  That  to  love  our  neighbor,  considered  in  itself,  is  not  to 
love  the  person  of  our  neighbor,  but  the  good  which  is 
in  his  person. 

VII.  That  charity  and  good  works  are  two  distinct  things  ; 

like  willing  what  is  good,  and  doing  what  is  good. 

VIII.  That  charity  itself  consisteth  in  acting  justly  and  faith- 

fully, in  whatsoever  office,  business,  and  employment 
a  person  is  engaged,  and  with  whomsoever  he  hath  any 
commerce  or  connection. 
IX,  That  eleemosynary  acts  of  charity  consisteth  in  giving  to 


420  SUMMARY    OF   THE    DOCTEINES   OF 

tbfjjoor,  and  in  relieving  the  indigent,  but  with  pru- 
dence. 
■  X.^IkiI  there  are  duties  of  charity,  some  public,  some  do- 

'^    mestic,  and  some  private. 
XL  That  there  are  convivial  recreations  of  charity,  consisting 
in  dinners  and  suppers,  and  in  social  intercourse. 
XII.  That  in  performing  the  exercises  of  charity,  man  doth  not 
ascribe  merits  to  woi-ks,  whilst  he  believeth  that  all 
good  is  from  the  Lord. 
XIIL  That  moral  life,  if  it  be  at  the  same  time  spiritual,  is 

charity. 
XIV.  That  the  friendship  of  love  contracted  with  a  person 
without  regard  to  his  quality  as  to  his  spirit,  is  detri- 
mental after  death. 
XV.  That  there  is  spurious  cliarity,  hypocritical  charity,  and 

dead  charity. 
XVL  That  friendship  of  love  amongst  the  wicked  is  intestine 

hatred  towards  each  other. 
XVIL  On  the  conjunction  of  love  to  God  and  love  towards  our 
neighbor. 

ON    FREE-WILL. 

I.  That  the  two  trees  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  one  of  life,  and 
the  other  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  signify  the 
free-will  which  man  enjoyeth  in  respect    to   spiritual 
things. 
IL  That  man  is  not  life,  but  a  recipient  of  life  from  God. 

III.  That  man,  during  his  abode  in  the  w'orld,  is  held  in  the 

midst  between  heaven  and  hell,  and  thus  in  a  spiritual 
equilibrium,  in  which  free-will  consists. 

IV.  That  it  appears  plainly,  from  the  permission  of  evil,  which 

every  one  experiences  in  his  internal  man,  that  he  hath 
free-will  in  spiritual  things. 
V.  That  without  free-will  in  spiritual  things,  the  Word  would 
be  of  no  manner  of  use,  consequently  the  Church  would 
be  a  nonentity. 
VI.  That  without  free-will  in  spiritual  things,  man  would  have 
nothing  which  could  enable  him  to  conjoin  himself  by 
reciprocation  with  the  Lord ;    and  consequently  there 
would  be  no  imputation,  but  mere  predestination,  which 
is  shocking  and  detestable. 
VII.  That  without  free-will  in  spiritual  things,  God  would  be 
chargeable  as  the  cause  of  evil,  and  consequently  there 
would  be  no  imputation. 


THE   TRUE   OHKISTIAN    OHUKCH.  421 

VIII.  That  every  spiritual  principle  of  the  Church,  when  it  is  ad- 
mitted and  is  received  with  freedom,  remains,  but  not 
otherwise. 
IX.  That  the  will  and  the  understanding  of  man  enjoy  this 
freedom  of  determination ;  but  that  the  commission  of 
evil,  both  in  the  spiritual  and  natural  world,  is  restrained 
by  laws,  or  else  society  would  perish  in  both. 
X.  That  if  man  were  destitute  of  free-will  in  spiritual  things, 
it  would  be  possible  for  all  men  throughout  the  whole 
world,  in  the  compass  of  one  day,  to  be  induced  to  be- 
lieve in  the  Lord  ;  but  the  reason  why  this  is  impossible 
is,  because  nothing  remains  with  man  but  what  is  re- 
ceived with  free-will. 

OF    REPENTANCE. 

I.  That  repentance  is  the  first  constituent  of  the  Church  in 
man. 
II.  That  contrition,  whicli  at  the  present  day  is  said  to  precede 
faith,  and  to  be  followed  by  evangelical  consolation,  is 
not  repentance. 

III.  That  man  is  boi-n  with  a  propensity  to  evils  of  all  kinds, 

and  that  unless  he  remove  them  in  part  by  repentance, 
he  remains  in  them,  and  whosoever  remains  in  them  can- 
not be  saved. 

IV.  That  the  knowledge  of  sin,  and  the  discovery  of  some  par- 

ticular sin  in  a  man's  self,  is  the  beginning  of  repent- 
ance. 
V.  That  actual  repentance  consists  in  a  man's  examining  him- 
self, in  knoAving  and  acknowledging  his  sins,  supplicating 
the  Lord,  and  in  beginning  a  new  life. 

VI.  That  true  repentance  consists  in  a  man's  examinmg  not 
only  the  actions  of  his  life,  but  also  the  intentions  of  his 
will. 
VII.  That  they  also  do  the  work  of  repentance  who,  though 
they  do  not  examine  themselves,  abstain  from  evils,  be- 
cause they  are  sins  ;  and  this  kind  of  repentance  is  done 
by  those  who  perform  works  of  charity  from  a  principle 
of  religion. 
VIII.  That  confession  ought  to  be  made  before  the  Lord  God 
the  Saviour,  and  at  the  same  time  supplication  for  help 
and  power  to  resist  evils. 

IX.  That  actual  repentance  is  an  easy  duty  to  those  who  have 
occasionally  practised  it,  but  meets  with  violent  opposi- 
tion from  those  who  have  never  practised  it. 


422  SUMMAET    OF   THE   DOCTRINES   OF 

X.  That  he  who  never  did  the  work  of  repentance,  and  never 
looked  into  and  examined  himself,  comes  at  last  not  to 
know  the  nature  of  either  damnatory  catI,  or  of  saving 
good. 

OF    REFORMATION    AND    REGENERATION. 

I.  That  maless  a  man  be  bom  again,  and,  as  it  were,  created 

aneAv,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
II.  That  the  new  birth  or  creation  is  effected  by  the  Lord 
alone,  through  charity  dnd  faith  as  two  means,  during 
man's  co-operation. 

III.  That  since  all  are  redeemed,  all  have  a  capacity  to  be  re- 

generated, eveiy  one  according  to  his  state. 

IV.  That  the  several  stages  of  regeneration  of  man  answer  to 

his  natural  conception,  gestation  in  the  womb,  birth,  and 
education. 
V.  That  the  first  act  of  the  new  birth  is  called  refomiation, 
which  is  an  act  of  the  undei-standing ;  and  the  second 
act  is  called  regeneration,  which  is  an  act  of  the  will, 
and  thence  of  the  imderstanding. 
VI.  Tliat  the  internal  man  is  first  to  be  reformed,  and  by  it 

the  external,  and  thus  man  is  regenerated. 
VII.  That  when  this  takes  place  there  arises  a  combat  between 
the  internal  and  external  man,  and  then  whichsoever 
conquers  hath  dominion  over  the  other. 
VIII.  That  the  regenerate  man  has  a  new  will  and  a  new  under- 
standing. 
IX.  That  a  regenerate  man  is  in  communion  with  the  angels  of 
heaven,  and  an  unregenerate  man  is  in  communion  with 
the  spirits  of  hell. 
X.  That  in  proportion  as  a  man  is  regenemted,  his  sins  are  re- 
moved, and  that  this  removal  is  what  is  meant  by  the 
remission  of  sins. 
XI.  That  regeneration  cannot  be  effected  without  free-will  in 

spiritual  concerns. 
XII.  That  regeneration  is   not   attainable  without   truths,   by 
which  faith  is  formed,  and  with  which  charity  conjoin- 
eth  itself. 

ON    IMPUTATION, 

1.  That  imputation,  and  the  faith  of  the  present  Church,  which 
alone  is  said  to  justify,  are  one  thing. 

II.  That  the  imputation   wliich  belongs  to  the  faith  of  the 


THE   TRUE   CHRISTIAN    CHURCH.  423 

present  time  is  twofold :  the  one  part  relating  to  the 
merits  of  Christ,  and  the  other  to  salvation  as  its  conse- 
quence. 

III.  That  faith  which  is  imputative  of  the  merit  and  righteous- 

ness of  Christ  the  Redeemer,  first  took  its  rise  from  the 
decrees  in  the  Council  of  Nice,  concerning  three  divine 
persons  from  eternity,  Avhich  faith,  from  that  time  to  the 
present,  has  been  received  by  the  whole  Christian  world. 

IV.  That  faith  imputative  of  the  merit  of  Christ  was  not  known 

m  the  ApostoHc  Chm-ch  which  preceded  the  Council  of 
Nice,  neither  is  it  declared  or  signified  in  any  part  of  the 
Word. 
V.  That  an  imputation  of  the  merit  and  righteousness  of  Christ 
is  impossible. 
VI.  That  there  is  such  a  thing  as  imputation,  but  then  it  is  an 
imputation  of  good  and  e\il,  and  at  the  same  time  of 
faith. 
VII.  That  the  Lord  imputeth  good  to  every  man,  and  that  hell 

imputeth  evil  to  every  man. 
VIII,  That  faith,  with  Avhatsoever  principle  it  conjoins  itself, 
passes  sentence  accordingly :  if  a  tnie  faith  conjometh 
Itself  with  goodness,  the  sentence  is  for  eternal  life ;  but 
if  faith  conjoineth  itself  with  evil,  the  sentence  is  for 
eternal  death. 
IX.  That  thought  is  imputed  to  no  one,  but  will. 

OF   BAPTISM. 

I.  That  without  a  knowledge  of  the  sphitual  sense  of  the 
Word,  no  one  can  know  what  the  two  Sacraments,  Bap- 
tism and  the  Holy  Supper,  involve  and  effect. 
II.  That  by  washing,  which  is  called  baptism,  spiritual  wash- 
ing is  meant,  which  is  a  purification  from  evils  and  falses, 
and  thus  regeneration. 

III.  That  as  circumcision  of  the  heart  was  represented  by  the 

circumcision  of  the  foreskin,  baptism  was  instituted  in 
Ueu  of  it,  to  the  end  that  an  mtemal  church  might  suc- 
ceed the  external,  in  which  all  and  every  thing  was  a 
figiu-e  of  the  internal  chm-ch. 

IV.  That  the  first  use  of  baptism  is  introduction  into  the  Chris- 

tian Church,  and  insertion  at  the  same  time  among  Chris- 
tians in  the  spiritual  world. 

V.  That  the  second  use  of  baptism  is,  that  the  Christian  may 

know  and  acknowledge  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  the  Re- 
deemer and  Saviour,  and  may  follow  Him. 


424  SUMSIAKY    OF   THE   DOCTKINIS   OF 

VI.  That  the  third  and  final  use  of  baptism  is,  that  man  may 

be  regenerated. 
V^II.  That  by  the  baptism  of  John,  a  way  was  prepared  that 
Jehovah  the  Lord  miglit  come  do^vn  into  the  world,  and 
accomplish  the  work  of  redemption. 

OF    THE    HOLY    SUPPER. 

I.  That  it  is  impossible  for  any  one,  without  an  acquaintance 
with  the  correspondences  of  natural  things  with  spiritual, 
to  know  the  uses  and  benefits  of  the  Holy  Supper. 
II.  That  an  acquaintance  with  correspondences  serves  to  dis- 
cover what  is  meant  by  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  Lord, 
and  that  the  same  is  signified  by  the  bread  and  wine ; 
\TZ.,  that  by  the  flesh  of  the  Lord,  and  by  the  bread,  is 
undei'stood  the  divine  good  of  his  love,  and  likewise  all 
the  good  of  charity ;  and  that  by  the  blood  of  the  Lord, 
and  by  the  wine,  is  understood  the  divine  truth  of  his 
wisdom,  and  likewise  all  the  ti-uth  of  faith ;  and  that  by 
eating  is  signified  appropriation. 

III.  That  by  understanding  what  has  been  said  above,  it  may 

be  clearly  comprehended  that  the  Holy  Supper  contains, 
both  universally  and  singularly,  all  thmgs  of  the  Chm'ch, 
and  all  things  of  heaven. 

IV.  That  the  Lord  is  entu-ely  present  with  the  whole  of  his  re- 

demption in  the  Holy  Supper. 
V.  That  the  Lord  is  present,  and  opens  heaven,  to  those  who 
approach  the  Holy  Supper  woi-thily;  and  that  He  is 
also  pi'esent  with  those  who  approach  imworthily,  but 
that  does  not  open  heaven  to  them ;  consequently,  that 
as  baptism  is  an  introduction  into  the  Church,  so  is  the 
Holy  Supper  an  introduction  into  heaven. 
VI.  That  they  approach  the  Holy  Supper  worthily  who  are 
under  the  influence  of  faith  towards  the  Lord,  and  of 
charity  towards  their  neighbor,  thus  who  are  regen- 
erate. 
VII.  That  they  who  approach  the  Holy  Supper  worthily,  are 
in  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  in  them  ;  consequently,  that 
conjunction  with  the  Lord   is   effected   by  the  Holy 
Supper. 

OF  THE  CONSUMMATION  OF  THE  AGE  ;  OF  THE  COMING  OF  THE 
LORD  ;  AND  OF  THE  NEW  HEAVEN  AND  CHURCH. 

I.  That  the  consummation  of  the  age  is  the  last  time  or  end 
of  the  Church. 


THE   TKUE   CHKISTIAN    CHDECH.  425 

II.  That  the  present  day  is  the  last  time  of  the  Christian 
Chui'ch,  which  is  foretold  and  described  by  the  Lord  in 
the  Gospels  and  in  the  Revelation. 

III.  That  the  last  time  of  the  Christian  Church  is  the  very 

night  in  which  former  chm-ches  have  set. 

IV.  That  after  this  night  morning  succeeds,  and  that  the  com- 

ing of  the  Lord  is  this  morning. 

V.  That  the  coming  of  the  Lord  is  not  a  coming  to  destroy 

the  visible  heaven  and  the  habitable  earth,  and  to  create 
a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  according  to  the  opinions 
which  many,  from  not  understanding  the  spiritual  sense 
of  the  Word,  have  hitherto  entertained. 

VI.  That  this,  which  is  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord,  exists 

for  the  sake  of  separating  the  evil  from  the  good,  and 
that  they  who  have  believed  and  who  do  believe  in  Him 
may  be  saved,  and  that  there  may  be  formed  of  them  a 
new  angehc  heaven,  and  a  New  Church  on  earth ;  and 
that  without  this  coming  no  flesh  could  be  saved. — Matt. 
xxiv.  22. 
VII.  That  this  second  coming  of  the  Lord  is  not  a  coming  in 
person,  but  in  the  Word,  which  is  from  Him,  and  is 
himself. 
VIII.  That  this  second  coming  of  the  Lord  is  effected  by  the  in- 
strumentality of  a  man,  before  whom  He  hath  manifested 
himself  in  person,  and  whom  He  hath  filled  with  his 
Spirit,  to  teach  from  Him  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Church  by  means  of  the  Word. 
IX.  That  this  is  meant  by  the  new  heaven,  and  new  earth,  and 
the  New  Jerusalem  descendmg  out  of  heaven,  spoken 
of  in  the  Revelation. 
X.  That  this  New  Church  is  the  crown  of  all  the  churches 
which  have  been  until  this  time  on  the  terrestrial  globe. 


THE    END. 


'■Ji 


% 


# 


»nft 


^i^r^ 


.,!► 
■'«?>  s 

-=.#. 


